Temptation
by blindingstars07
Summary: To him she was a 'goody-two-shoes who can't have fun'. To her he was an 'arrogant sodding prick'. Rose resented Scorpius while he enjoyed tormenting and & teasing her. Throw in a wedding dress, detention, a bathroom scene, a whole lot of chaos, and what do we have? Love
1. The One With The Puffapods

**A/N: ****Hello everyone! My first stab at a Rose/Scorpius fanfiction. I have written HP fanfiction before, but this is the first one I'm publishing on this site, and also my first next gen fic. ****I'm a big fan of the Rose/Scorpius pairing and have always wanted to write a story about them, so here it is! Do feel free to point out any mistakes I may have made, be it grammar or spelling or even if certain things are inconsistent with the book (I try to be as accurate as possible in following what JK Rowling has mapped out).**

* * *

She ran through the barrier and onto platform 9 and 3/4, and grinned when she saw the scarlet train. There was the loud chatter of students, some already clad in their Hogwarts robes. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As corny as it sounds, Hogwarts had always felt like home to her, and she was always glad to return to it.

Her cousin Albus came up beside her and put his arm around her shoulder.

"Sixth year's gonna be a blast Rosie!" he said. She was about to utter her agreement when someone clad in Slytherin robes arrived in their midst.

"Hey Al!"

Albus turned and gave a high five to Scorpius Malfoy. She rolled her eyes. _Seriously who still high fives now?_

"Scorp! How was your summer?" he asked.

"Oh please, that is such a redundant question considering Malfoy was over at your place practically half the summer, and you over at his the other half," she quipped.

"Well good morning to you too Red," Scorpius said. He had a habit of calling her that, _Red_. No one else did, and she didn't remember when it started, but Scorpius insisted on referring to her as such that she gave up trying to stop him, if not that would just add to the million and one things on the list of things they bicker about. "Someone sure woke up on the wrong side of bed eh? Not excited to be going back to Hogwarts?"

"On the contrary I am very excited. However your presence now just reminded me of the one thing I hate about Hogwarts, which is having to see you almost on a daily basis," she replied, lifting her chin up.

"Aw shucks Red, and I was so looking forward to us spending quality time together this year," Scorpius laughed. Albus shook his head in exasperation beside them while Rose glared at him. She knew Al has always wanted them to get along, but in her opinion it was 'impossible to even have a decent conversation with this sodding prick'.

"Eat grass, Malfoy," she said, before walking away.

Her mother was doing her usual routine with Hugo, her little brother.

"- packed in your trunk. And Hugo, for the last time, no more note passing in class, or throwing dungbombs anywhere in school. The amount of detention you got last year –"

"Relax 'Mione, the kid's fine," Ron said as he ruffled Hugo's hair.

"Ron, it's exactly this kind of relaxed attitude you've been treating our son with that he's acting out in school!" Hermione said anxiously. Hugo just stood there fiddling with a chess piece in his hand. Rose rolled her eyes. She loves her brother but thought that sometimes it's hard to tell if he's fourteen or four.

"Don't worry Aunt Hermione, we'll keep an eye on Hugo!" James said as he, Lily and his parents strolled over to them. This earned him a smack on the head from his mother.

"Ow! That's child abuse woman!"

"Don't think we don't know where he got those dungbombs from," said Ginny. "And I warn you James Potter, if we get another letter from the headmaster I am gonna send you ten Howlers this time."

James gulped at the memory of his mother's Howler in his fifth year after he and Fred had pulled one of the largest pranks ever. Let's just say the fourth floor corridor is still cordoned off because they could never completely get rid of what Fred and James had put there. And Ginny's Howler screaming at James about shutting him in his room for eternity is still ringing in everybody's ears today.

Hermione turned to Rose now and brushed a few stray strands of hair off her face.

"Now you take care of your little brother ok sweetie? And just owl us if you need anything, like if your brother gets into any trouble or –"

"I know Mum, don't worry," she patted her on the arm. Hermione nodded and gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek.

Rose turned to her Dad and grinned as he reached out to hug her. And in the midst of their embrace he murmured, "Give Malfoy hell."

She giggled as he kissed her on the forehead.

* * *

"Hey Al, do you remember what the Professor said about Puffapods during Herbology class? I need about two more inches to finish up my essay but I really can't think of anything else," Rose asked.

She was curled up on the couch before the fire in the Gryffindor common room, trying to complete her Herbology essay. Albus on the other hand was playing wizards' chess with Hugo.

"Hmmm? Yeah sure whatever you say Rosie," came his reply. She rolled her eyes. She should have guessed he wasn't listening to her.

"I don't know why you even try Al, Hugo always beats you."

Just as she said it, Hugo cried out, "Checkmate! I win! Again. You owe me ten galleons."

Albus groaned, digging into his pockets and dumping the ten galleons on the chess board. Besides inheriting his father's looks, Hugo had also inherited his skill in chess, and Albus has tried and failed over the years to beat Hugo in a chess game.

"Shouldn't you be doing your homework Hugo?" Rose said. Despite having inherited her dad's hair and eyes as well, she had also inherited her mother's features and intelligence, and along with it, her bossiness and rule abidingness. James and Albus called it the 'goody disease'.

"You're not the boss of me!" Hugo made a face and ran upstairs. Rose sighed. For a fourth year, he can be extremely childish.

Albus glanced at the time.

"Well I'll get going as well. Need to meet Scorpius and –"he stopped in midsentence when he saw her wrinkle her nose and give him a look. "Oh come on Rosie, it's been what? Five years? Scorpius is great fun if you'd just get to know him."

"No thank you. I wouldn't be caught dead within two feet of that arrogant jerk of a Slytherin."

Albus shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, then he climbed of the portrait hole.

She hated that her cousin and close friend Albus was best friends with that creep. In her opinion, he was the most annoying and pompous git to ever fall upon the face of earth, and sometimes when she couldn't control herself, she'd send a good hex his way, which most of the time he managed to avoid much to her annoyance.

The both of them were also top in their level for most of the subjects. She loved it when she beat him in tests. But she hated how he could easily match her score without even trying.

The incident that Albus was referring to earlier on had occurred in their first year, when they had all just met.

"_Traitor!"_

"_Death Eater!"_

"_Going to use an Unforgivable Curse on us Malfoy?"_

_Scorpius scowled at them and seemed about to retort when he was cut short by another voice. However this voice was not hurling insults at him nor his family._

"_Leave him alone! He didn't choose all that!"_

_He glanced at who had said that. It was a girl –a pretty girl –who had said that. She had long red hair that she had tied up in a plait, though a few strands had fallen out. And she had the bluest eyes he had ever seen. It took him a moment to realize she was a Weasley. And the boy beside her was a Potter. His father had told him about them._

"_Stay out of this Weasley. I can handle my own business," he replied in a lazy manner._

"_Excuse me!" Rose Weasley put her hands on her hips. "I was only trying to help! A 'thank you' would have sufficed-"_

"_No one asked you to be nosey."_

"_Rosie, don't. Dad said to be nice," the bespectacled boy beside Rose had tugged at her sleeve._

"_But Al this git here-"_

"_Listen to your pal there and run along will you," Scorpius drawled._

"_Well aren't you just like your father then," said Rose. A look of distaste crossed Scorpius's face. "You're right, we should have minded our own business and let you be. You deserve it anyway."_

"_Come along Al," she linked arms with Albus and dragged him away._

It certainly didn't help that he teased her mercilessly and she constantly called him names in return. But that didn't stop Albus and Scorpius from becoming best friends. They did have a lot in common. For one, they both loved the sport Quidditch. Scorpius played way better than his father ever did, and Albus on the other hand seemed to lack the natural talent his father had, but nevertheless still played relatively well. For another, they both wanted to be known for themselves, not who their fathers were. And somehow through the mix, they became best friends. Even so, up till now, Rose still could not understand what her cousin was thinking when he decided to befriend that 'sodding arse of a Slytherin'.

Rose heard the giggling of a few girls in the common room and looked up to see her cousins James and Fred entering the common room. James's hand immediately jumped to his hair to mess it up as he grinned smugly at the girls. Fred rolled his eyes at him, and spotting Rose, came over and sat down.

"Hey Rosie, what's up?" he asked, lounging casually on the couch beside her. James had followed and settled himself in an armchair.

"Trying to finish this ruddy essay. I just need two inches more on Puffapods but I can't seem to remember anything else the Professor mentioned!"

"Ah homework, we learnt back in fourth year that it's pretty redundant, didn't we Fred?" James said. Fred nodded in agreement.

"Come on Rose we've only been back here 3 days and you're already fretting about homework?" Fred said.

"Well excuse me for wanting to do well. Shouldn't you guys be studying? It's your NEWTs year if you haven't realized," she said.

James coughed and Rose was sure she heard 'goody disease'. She scowled at him.

"Yeah well, we have more important things to do," Fred said, exchanging grins with James.

"If Aunt Ginny finds out you've been slacking off _again_ –"

"Aw come on Rosie, you wouldn't tell her would you?" James pleaded.

"No. I don't have the time to write a letter to Aunt Ginny just to tell her about all your misdeeds James. That letter would take forever to write," she replied.

James and Fred certainly lived up to their namesake, being the most notorious pranksters in the school. And it certainly boosted James's ego to know that girls absolutely fawned over his dashing good looks. It helped that he was Quidditch captain for the Gryffindor team as well, playing Keeper, while Albus had followed in their father's footsteps and got the spot of Seeker. Fred too was on the team playing Chaser. He had flaming red hair and looked a lot like his father, and though he spent half his time pranking with James, he was still fiercely protective of all his younger cousins in Hogwarts. Considering there are so many of them, they were practically like a huge Weasley and Potter gang in Hogwarts. They were all pretty close, and Fred was the big brother they could go to. He had a more sensible head than James at least, though still a complete disregard for rules.

"So anyway, where's Al? Haven't seen him around today at all," said James.

"He's off somewhere with Malfoy," Rose said distractedly. She reached for her Herbology textbook on the table and started flipping through it, trying to find some mention on Puffapods.

"Ah Scorpius. I think Uncle Ron never really got over that," Fred chuckled.

"I doubt Daddy will ever get over it. Really, he looked like he wanted to throw a party when I announced that Malfoy and I were enemies," she smiled fondly at that memory of Dad's shock and anxiety when he found out about Albus and Scorpius, and how his expression eased into relief as Rose assured him that she and Scorpius hated each other. Well ok Scorpius didn't hate her, but he always thought it was funny how he could infuriate her to no end. Rose on the other hand certainly hated him with burning passion.

"Still haven't gotten over it?" James asked.

"You're going to go on about how silly I'm being again aren't I? I think it's rather obvious that Malfoy and I, well how should I say this, we just don't get along. Different views. _Very_ different views," Rose said.

James and Fred exchanged knowing glances and didn't say anymore.

"So anyway, we kinda need your help Rose," Fred grinned at her.

She glanced at them suspiciously.

"You see there's this prank we wanna pull but we need this charm that –"

"No," came her flat reply.

"Rosie!" James whined.

"No. I've told you guys I'm not going to have any part in the pranks you guys play. Do you know what Mum would do to me if she ever found out?" she said.

James and Fred shuddered at the thought of their Aunt Hermione.

"Well whatever it is it can't be as bad as what my mother does to me," James said.

"It's still a no. If you want to do your pranks, it'd help if you listened in class and learned the spells to do them," she replied.

"But –"

"No."

"Rose!"

"No."

"Just this once?"

"No."

"Please?"

Rose sighed. She needed a way to get these guys off her back so she could concentrate on her Herbology essay. Not looking up from her rolls of parchment, she said, "You know, I think I saw Lily heading into an empty classroom with Carl Simmons from Hufflepuff this morning."

"Carl Simmons? That big bloke from fifth year?" James asked, jumping to his feet. Fred too had stood up.

"No way! We caught him snogging Jenna Smith last week! Come on James," said Fred. She watched as the two of them marched out of the Gryffindor common room in search of James's little sister and probably Carl Simmons as well.

Rose sank further down in the couch and sighed. Finally cleared of all distractions, she tried once more to tackle her essay. Her textbook was now abandoned on the table once more.

Then another distraction came in the form of Terra Jones. She had just come down from the sixth year girls' dormitory and plopped herself down beside Rose. She took one look at Terra and observed that she was still dressed in her pink flannel pyjama pants and a pink t-shirt that said 'I Love Pudding!' Her light brown hair was falling all over her face, shading her light blue eyes.

"Good morning to you," Rose laughed, taking in her best friend's look.

"Morning," Terra stifled a yawn. "What time is it?"

"It's eleven. You missed breakfast. And if you haven't realized, you're in the common room in your pyjamas," Rose said, grinning at her. Terra had a tendency to sleep in whenever she had a chance to. And weekends were such chances. You couldn't catch her before ten o'clock on a weekend.

"Mmmm, yeah ok," she replied, stretching her arms and stifling another yawn. Rose wasn't sure she had heard what she just told her but shook it off anyway. It was normal for Terra not to comprehend anything at this time of the day. She could only be fully awake after twelve. She considered asking her about Puffapods but decided against it. Terra probably was not in the best state to answer her right now.

"Why don't you go take a shower? A cold one. I think that'll help," Rose suggested. Terra merely nodded and got up, going back up to the dormitory. Rose was pretty sure she was gonna go back to bed. She shook her head and glanced at her essay once more. Finally deciding that there was nothing she could do about it right now, she cleared her things and went back upstairs.

Entering the sixth year dormitory, Rose found that Terra had not gone back to bed. Instead, she seemed to be in the middle of a somewhat heated argument with Sandra Langton.

"...can't keep your things to your side of the room!" Sandra shouted.

"It's not my fault I happen to be a little messy!" Terra retorted. Rose noted that she seemed fully awake now.

"A little messy? You call this a little messy?" Sandra pointed at Terra's side of the dormitory, that was littered with books, parchments, a spilt bottle of ink, clothes, and plenty of other things. Terra was never one for tidiness, but most of the time her mess was only confined to her own space.

"Well just because my Transfiguration book and my jeans were a little too near your bed doesn't mean I can't keep my things to my side of the room! All you had to do was move it back!" Terra yelled back.

Rose groaned slightly to herself. She knew she was going to have to break this up.

"Alright that's enough you guys! Seriously, do you want the whole common room to hear you?" she said. Terra and Sandra turned to her, as if they just realized that she had entered the room.

"Well tell her to keep her things away from mine!" Sandra said, pointing her finger accusingly at Terra, who glared daggers at her. If looks could kill, Sandra would be a goner.

"Terra will make sure she keeps her things away from yours from now on," Rose sighed. Terra opened her mouth to argue but she gave her a look that clearly said 'drop it'.

Terra and Sandra had been rivalling forever. The two never got along. They couldn't stand being around each other and never wanted to share the same space if they could help it. But they did share something though, a common attraction for the same boy. One Albus Potter. Personally Rose thought it was weird to have her best friend crush on Al, but she got used to it after a while. At least Terra never chose to gush about Albus like the way Sandra did to the other girls. And Albus, being a thick headed boy, never so much as noticed the way those two girls acted around him. Well maybe he did notice how Sandra flirted shamelessly with him, much to the displeasure of Terra, but he certainly never noticed how Terra would blush when he smiled at her or how she tucked her hair behind her ears when she was with him, like she does every time she was nervous. Boys, they can be so dumb really.

Sandra gave a smug glance at Terra before leaving the dormitory with her nose in the air.

"Oh I could twist that –" Terra made a motion like wringing a neck.

"Forget it. She's not worth it," Rose said, stowing away her book and parchment in her drawer.

"Fine. Come on, let's head to the kitchens. I'm starving," said Terra.

"Can't. Got to get to the prefects' meeting we're having before lunch. It's starting in about ten minutes," she said, glancing at the clock on her table. "I'll see you at lunch ok?"

"Alright. And sweetie, whatever Scorpius says or does to annoy you, ignore him ok?"

"I'll try. As long as he tries not to be a prick, I'll be nice too."

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and didn't find it too dry! Not much of Scorpius/Rose interactions in this one, but it's mostly laying groundwork and introducing characters for the story. Please leave a review I'd be happy to get feedback! Thanks!**


	2. The One With The Food Fight

Scorpius Malfoy lounged casually on a couch, one foot dangling on the other knee. He flicked his head to get a few strands of platinum blonde hair out of his silvery blue eyes. Whether or not he heard the sigh emitting from a few fifth year prefects from the corner of the room, no one could tell, because he didn't seem to have any reaction to it. Perhaps it was because he was too used to it, being one of the better looking guys in school.

He was, as most people said, the spitting image of his father. He had his father's hair, right down to the same eye colour. They walked the same, and talked the same, had the same sarcasm and that devilish smirk. One look at Scorpius and you would know he was his father's son. But you had to get to know him to know that he didn't completely miss out on his mother's traits. He was intelligent, like his mother was, and a generally calm person, he was good at keeping his temper in check. And he was extremely loyal to his friends.

Inez Fitzpatrick, his fellow sixth year Slytherin prefect, was droning on about something beside him, but he wasn't really paying attention, only nodding a few times to let her think he was. Doing duties with this chatterbox was a real dread to Scorpius. She never stopped talking. And she never talked about things that interested him.

The door to the Prefects' Meeting Room opened with a slight creak and Scorpius looked up with interest, a smirk forming on his lips as he caught the eye of the girl who had just entered the room. She flipped her long red hair and glared at him, then turned and walked to the opposite side of the room, where her partner Randy Daniels was sitting.

"So what do you think Scorpius? The red or the blue?" Inez asked.

"Huh?" Scorpius said distractedly. "Uh the red, yeah definitely."

"I know right? That's what I told her! But she insisted on the blue," Inez shook her head. She continued talking and Scorpius went back to ignoring her.

He glanced at the redhead across the room. She was laughing at something Daniels had said. She really was pretty. He could see why many boys in their year wanted to date her. He found it amusing how they didn't get along. She was after all, Albus's cousin. But they infuriated one another to no end, and Scorpius could barely remember ever having a civil conversation with Rose Weasley. He smiled to himself when he remembered how hard she had tried to avoid being in the same room as him when they were both over at the Potters' for dinner during the summer.

Ah the Potters. It's been 5 years and his father was still in the midst of digesting this piece of news he thought, though Albus's parents had seemed to take it quite well when Albus had announced to his parents that he and Scorpius were best buds. It was understandable how his father felt though. He knew all about what had happened at the war. "Potter's alright..." his father had said. But it was his mother who told him about what went down between his father and Albus's father in school, and during the war. But at least his father never stopped him from being friends with Albus. Granted it was a bit awkward whenever he met Rose's parents (he had a feeling her dad didn't like him much), it was still alright; the rest of the huge family accepted him anyways.

"Malfoy's staring at you," Randy laughed, nodding towards where Scorpius was sitting. Rose turned, and sure enough, he was looking at her. He didn't turn away embarrassedly at being caught staring, but held her gaze and smirked back at her. Oh how she hated that smirk. That smirk that said 'I couldn't care less' and was so annoyingly attractive as well.

Oh yes, Rose Weasley wouldn't deny this. No matter how much she despised Scorpius Malfoy, she had to admit he was indeed the best looking boy in Hogwarts. Well there's James of course, but she could hardly think of her own cousin as good looking when she had seen him running about the house in geeky glasses and wearing pyjamas with dinosaurs printed all over them when she was seven could she? But Scorpius with his striking features and tall, strong built, Rose could hardly blame the female population of Hogwarts for falling at his feet, though she had rolled her eyes at every girl she had seen swooning over him in her past five years in Hogwarts.

"Ignore him, he's probably plotting the best way to get back at me for telling everyone he sleeps with a teddy bear on the first day of school," Rose said, breaking away from Scorpius's gaze and looking back at Randy, who was laughing at what she had just said.

"Yeah I heard about that. But I doubt Malfoy's planning revenge. He seemed quite amused when Albus told him about it during Charms two days ago," he informed her. "But does he really? Sleep with a teddy I mean."

"No. I don't know. It was just a passing remark I made after he pissed me off," said Rose. Then she grinned and added, "But for all you know, he might really sleep with one."

The Head Boy and Head Girl entered and everyone immediately took seats in front of the slightly raised platform where the Heads stood. After going through the norm of patrol duty assignment, the Heads had an interesting announcement to make.

"Some of you may know, that Hogwarts holds a traditional ball every fifty years to commemorate the founding of our school. And this year happens to be that year," the Head Girl announced. Immediately there were excited whispers among the prefects.

"Ooh, I read about that in Hogwarts, A History! I didn't think it would happen in our time!" Inez whispered to Scorpius.

"Yes I know this is all quite exciting. The school has yet to announce it to the students, but I expect the Headmaster will do so soon. As the Head Boy and Head Girl, we will be planning the event. We will of course, need your help when the event arrives but we'll take care of that when the planning is done. In the mean time, please do not spread this around. The school would prefer to make its official announcement to the students instead of us doing it for them," the Head Boy said. "That is all, you guys can go now."

Everyone was still murmuring about the ball when they got up to leave. Rose had a huge smile plastered on her face when she exited the Prefects' Meeting Room and saw Terra waiting for her outside.

"Hey! You look happy," Terra greeted.

"Oh Terra you wouldn't believe this! You remember in Hogwarts, A History –"

Terra held up a hand to stop her. "I'm not really interested in what you read in a history book about Hogwarts Rose."

"It's not like that," Rose said impatiently. "The traditional ball is being held this year!"

"What? The ball to commemorate the founding of Hogwarts? It's this year?" Terra asked excitedly. Rose nodded, grinning at her friend.

"So much for not spreading it around, eh Red?" a voice behind her drawled. Rose whirled around and came face to face with Scorpius.

"What's it to you anyway?" she snapped. "Besides, it's not like you're not going to tell Al."

At that precise moment, Albus came bounding down the corridor.

"Hey Scorpius, Rosie, Terra."

Terra blushed and smiled at him.

"Mate, guess what? The traditional ball is being held this year," said Scorpius.

Rose threw her hands up in the air, giving Scorpius a look. He shrugged and smirked at her. Albus either didn't notice or didn't care about the exchange between his best friend and his cousin, and went on to exclaim, "No way! It's this year? That's awesome! So who're you gonna ask? Man we gotta find people to ask to the ball. Anyone you have in mind?"

Terra pretended to concentrate hard on a brick in the wall while Rose rolled her eyes. It was so typical of her cousin she wanted to just smack him on the head and tell him to go with Terra. But of course, she couldn't.

Scorpius shook his head at Albus's question and said instead, "Come on let's head to lunch."

Rose and Terra followed behind them, Terra staring longingly at Albus's back while Rose glared loathingly at Scorpius. Upon entering the Great Hall, Scorpius headed over to the Slytherin table and sat with his friends while the three of them went over to the Gryffindor table.

The middle of the Gryffindor table was where the Potter and Weasley clan always sat. It wasn't like an official thing, but they had just started sitting there since their clan had entered Hogwarts. It was something the rest of the Gryffindors respected as well. The few exceptions were the friends whom the clan hung out with.

"...Simmons is not the best choice for you Lily," James said to his little sister in between bites of his chicken. Lily had a look of annoyance on her face as she sat across from James, listening to him go on.

"James you fool, for the last time, stay out of my affairs," she grumbled.

"I'm telling you, Dad won't be happy to know you've chosen to date someone like him," James went on, as if she hadn't spoken. Lily made a face at him.

"Hey guys, guess what? The traditional Hogwarts ball is being held this year!" Albus said.

"Al!" Rose kicked him under the table.

"OW! What?"

"You weren't supposed to –"

"Are you serious? That's so cool!" Fred exclaimed.

"Do we get to wear pretty dresses?" Lily immediately perked up. She and Roxanne immediately put her heads together and whispered excitedly about what they could wear to the ball.

Rose groaned. Now that the entire clan knew, it was bound to spread to everyone else.

"People you can't go spreading this around. It's confidential Prefects' information," she said.

"Aw come on Rosie, we're family! Do you really think we'd go tell everyone?" James grinned at her.

* * *

Rose knew the clan could not be trusted to keep their mouths shut. Within two days the entire school was buzzing with the news of the ball. But of course, it was not just the clan who were responsible for spreading it around. Seems the other prefects couldn't keep the news to themselves either and had told their friends.

"I think everyone in the school probably knows about the ball already," said Rose, as she and Terra walked to the Great Hall for dinner. They had just walked by another group of fourth years discussing who they were going to ask to the ball.

"It was bound to get around. With something this juicy, no one would be able to keep it to themselves. Besides, we all need a little excitement here at Hogwarts, so naturally everyone greeted the news with much enthusiasm," Terra replied.

"Ah there's our favourite little cousin!"

James and Fred appeared out of nowhere and sidled over to Rose's side. James had even elbowed Terra a little to get her out of the way, and she was now scowling at him unhappily. He was either blissfully unaware or did not seem to think it mattered.

"For the last time boys, I am not giving you that charm," Rose replied.

"Who said we wanted the charm?" James said, looking hurt at Rose's accusation.

"Yeah, couldn't we just come over to say hello to our beautiful cousin?" said Fred.

Rose snorted in disbelief. This had happened one too many times for her to believe them. They only ever treated her like she was top of the world when they needed something from her.

"Why don't you try going to the library to find the charm you need?" she suggested, though knowing full well they'd never take up her suggestion.

"The library? Ever heard of that place Fred?"

"No I daresay I haven't James."

"Oh! It's that place with a bunch of dirty old books you like to hang around in!" James said, slapping Rose on the back, almost causing her to drop the books in her arms. She rolled her eyes at them.

"Go away," she said, pushing James away and pulling Terra back to her side.

Entering the Great Hall, they settled at their usual spot at the Gryffindor table.

"I think the Headmaster's going to announce the ball tonight," Albus said. "Everyone's been talking about it!"

Just as he said it, there came the tinkling of a spoon being rapped against a glass, calling the attention of all the students. The Headmaster rose from his seat and beamed at everyone.

"Now some of you may not know this, but Hogwarts holds a ball every fifty years..."

The rest of his words were drowned by the instant uproar from the students, who began chattering excitedly about the ball, not even bothering that the Headmaster was still speaking. Well the Headmaster himself didn't seem to care that the students weren't paying attention to him, but was still talking as if it was nothing out of the ordinary to continue speaking though you couldn't possibly be heard over the din. The teachers though had a look of annoyance on their faces, but did nothing else to stop the noise.

"...will be held at the end of the year after your exams. Thank you."

At least they caught that last bit when the noise had died down a bit. The Headmaster had sat down and resumed eating his dinner, and the rest of Hogwarts followed suit, the Great Hall was still abuzz with thrill about the ball.

Sandra instantly appeared at their area of the Gryffindor table and squished herself between Albus and Hugo. Hugo gave her a look of annoyance as she caused him to drop a spoonful of pasta on the table, but he proceeded to scoop it up and shove it into his mouth anyways.

"So Al!" Sandra smiled sweetly at him while Terra, who was sitting opposite him, gripped her fork tightly and glared at her. Rose was sure she was imagining stabbing Sandra with it right now and cautiously wrestled the fork out of Terra's hand. "This ball sounds like it's gonna be fun huh?"

"Yeah totally," Albus grinned back at her. Rose knew he secretly enjoyed Sandra flirting with him, but she also knew Al would never go for a girl like Sandra.

"Any ideas who you're gonna take?" she asked. Terra concentrated hard on her meatball spaghetti in front of her, willing herself not to look at Albus as he answered.

"No, haven't thought about it yet. There's still time to think about who to take," Albus replied nonchalently. Terra heaved a sigh of relief.

"Well I was thinking maybe you and I could – ARGH!" Sandra stared in horror at the meatball that had bounced off her shoulder, leaving a stain of spaghetti sauce there. "Why you little –"

Before she could lunge herself at Terra, who was grinning at her handiwork, Albus said, "Hey no worries, it's just a little stain, I'm sure it'll come right off."

He made a grab for a napkin nearby and in the process, knocked over a pitcher of grape juice which spilled over Sandra.

"URGH!" she screamed. "MY BLOUSE! THIS IS SILK!"

Before anyone could respond, Fred and James had stood up and climbed onto the table, fistful of spaghetti in their hands. "FOOD FIGHT!"

In the next few minutes, a full on war had started before the teachers could even fathom what had happened.

Rose ducked under the tables and tried to crawl her way towards the entrance of the Great Hall. She hated these sort of things, and she never participated. She was a prefect afterall and thought it was utterly undignified to be caught with hands full of clumps of food. Unfortunately, under the tables was a great place for most students to take cover as they participate in the food fight and Rose had only crawled 3 feet before she was covered in jello and pasta sauce and custard. She continued squeezing her way through the students under the Gryffindor table before someone grabbed her hand, wrapped an arm around her and effectively rolled out from underneath the Gryffindor table and under the Slytherin's, which was at the side of the Great Hall.

"Malfoy! Let go of me you moron!" Rose tried to push Scorpius off her while he chuckled.

"The way you were making an exit, you'd never get to the door by the end of this food fight," he said, peeling a few baby leaves from the salad off her red hair.

"Well I don't see how being under the Slytherin table is much help," she replied with a look of disgust as a burly third year Slytherin boy bumped into her under the table and smeared chocolate sauce on the sleeve of her robes in the process.

"The Gryffindor table's right in the middle of the action. The Slytherin table is by the side of the Great Hall. It's always easier to escape when you line the sides rather than cut through the centre," Scorpius explained, nudging Rose from out under the table.

They both had their backs to the stone wall now and Rose could see he was right. They had the Slytherin table in front of them and a bunch of students blocking them from being seen or reached by the flying food.

Just then a huge glob of rissoto came flying through the air and landed on Scorpius's and Rose's laps.

Ok so they could still be reached by airborne food.

"Ewww!" Rose groaned. "Let's get ot of here!"

Scorpius laughed at her but led the way, two of them inching they way along the wall before they finally made it to the entrance and slipped out.

"That was fun," Scorpius grinned when they were finally in the corridor. A bunch of students had escaped the Great Hall too and seemed a mess.

"How in the world is that fun? It's so childish!" Rose said, glancing down at her robes in disdain. "Urgh, I'm gonna go take a shower. See you Malfoy."

Scorpius looked on in amusement as Rose headed back to the Gryffindor tower.

* * *

Rose got rid of her dirty robes and made her way to the Prefects' bathroom. She needed to relax, not just from the disgusting food fight but from school and everything as well, so she thought this would be a perfect opportunity to take advantage of her Prefect privileges.

Entering the pristine bathroom, she turned on the hot water tap and stepped over the chairs at the side. Untying her robe, she draped it over a chair and walked over to the bath pool, dipping her toes in first to check the temperature before sinking her leg in and stepping in.

She let out a soft moan as she felt all her tension washed away by the hot water and steam surrounding her. Closing her eyes and leaning back on the head rest, she relaxed and tried to clear her head.

"Looks like you're enjoying yourself."

Rose's eyes snapped opened. She turned around to see Scorpius sitting on a chair beside her robe, leaning back in a casual manner and smirking at her. She widened her eyes at him.

Scorpius Malfoy was in the bathroom, and she was naked. And the first thought that crossed her mind was: _Thank Merlin for all the bubbles and soap suds in this pool._

* * *

**A/N: Hello! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Do leave a review letting me know what you think!**


	3. The One With The Flowers By The Lake

"WHAT THE HELL MALFOY!" Rose screamed, sinking herself further into the water to make sure Scorpius saw none of her nakedness.

"No need to scream Red, I'm right here!" Scorpius replied.

"I know you're right here! Why in Merlin's name are you here?" she screamed again. "This is the Prefects' bathroom!"

"You say that like I'm not a Prefect too," Scorpius scoffed, as if he really didn't see what was wrong with the situation.

"This is the _girls_ Prefect bathroom!" she yelled.

"Ah, minor details," he grinned at her and waved his hand.

"What do you want Malfoy, or are you just here to perv on girls taking a bath? I'm so gonna tell the Professors about this you know!" Rose said, glaring at him and trying to gain control of the situation, although she was painfully aware of the fact that she was trapped naked in the bath with no way out.

Scorpius on the other hand was perfectly happy because he knew he was making Rose squirm.

"I just remembered you didn't thank me for helping you get out of the Great Hall just now," he said, stretching his arms and placing his hands behind his head.

"And you barged in here so shamelessly just to get your thanks?" Rose yelled in disbelief.

"Again with the shouting Red. Seriously, I'm right here, no need for that," Scorpius grimaced, rubbing his ears in mock pain. "And besides, why am I the shameless one? You're the one who's naked."

He smirked at her and Rose felt her cheeks and neck heat up, not from embarrassment, but from pure anger at one very annoying Malfoy.

"How'd you even get in here?"

"Oh I got the password from Millie Smith last year. We had some things to take care of in here together," he winked at her. Rose wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Your sexual exploits are of no interest to me Malfoy," she said.

"It's ok, even if I told them to you, you wouldn't get it," Scorpius said, propping his legs up on the next chair now.

"What's that supposed to mean," Rose narrowed her eyes at him.

"Sweet, young, virginal Rose," he smiled, shaking his head at her.

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing! Yeah well so what if I haven't had all the experiences you had? I bet you gave your virginity away to Natalie Cooper in fourth year didn't you! There was that rumour going on for ages!"

"Nah. Sure I went out a couple of times with Nat Cooper but we hardly went to second base," Scorpius replied.

"Then it's gotta be Erika Sawyer from Hufflepuff," Rose said.

"Nope, went out with her for a week and discovered she had horrible acne on her _back_," Scorpius grimaced at the memory.

Somehow Rose had forgotten she was naked in the bathroom with Scorpius and this had instead turned into a guessing game of his past sexual conquests.

"Cornelia Abrams?" Rose asked, thinking real hard about all the rumours she's ever heard of Scorpius's dating history.

"Uh uh," he chuckled. Rose squinted at him. She was sure she had named almost every girl in the school that could possibly have dated Scorpius. Unless…

"Wait, you're a virgin too, aren't you!" Rose said smugly as Scorpius turned a tad pink. But he recovered quickly.

"Yeah well, as surprising as this might be to you Red, I do think sex is important. Important enough to save for someone special," he replied. Rose admired how he said that with no shame. Most boys would probably have lied about their sexual history rather than admit they had never shagged a girl.

"Oh but don't worry, I've had my fair share of fun with the ladies, if you know what I mean," Scorpius winked at her. Rose glared back in return.

"So who's the unlucky lady you're having your 'fun' with now?" Rose asked.

"No one," Scorpius shrugged. "Got tired of getting through all the girls in Hogwarts. They bore me. Thought I'd go for a change this year."

"What? Date guys instead?" Rose said sarcastically.

"Of course not. Besides maybe without all the distractions of these girls I can finally put in that little bit of effort to beat you in all our subjects," he replied. Rose was about to retort when Scorpius spoke up again.

"By the way Red, the soap bubbles are starting to go away, maybe you should pour in more soap," Scorpius said as he stood up. Rose glanced in and noticed to her horror that he was right. Grabbing the soap bottle near her she hastily poured in a generous amount to get the bubbles going again.

"Don't worry, I didn't see anything," Scorpius grinned. "Well this was fun, I'll catch you some other time."

"No! Don't you ever walk in on me taking a bath again Malfoy or there will be hell to pay!"

He just chuckled and left.

* * *

Somehow, Terra and Albus ended up getting detention together for starting the food fight, of course, along with Fred and James.

Rose was brushing her hair, preparing for bed, when Terra walked into the sixth year girls' dormitory, a huge dreamy smile plastered on her face.

"How was detention?" Rose asked.

"Divine," she replied, flopping down on her bed. "Albus and I spent two hours cleaning the trophy cabinets together. It was so romantic!"

Sandra scowled at her from her bed.

"And I have you to thank Sandra," Terra said, lifting her head to wink at her arch rival. Sandra gave a 'hmph' and turned off her night lamp, shoving herself under her covers and pulling them up to her chin, determined to ignore Terra as her latest plan backfires on her.

Terra spent the next fifteen minutes describing to Rose how much fun she had with Albus, though Rose was sure she had exaggerated certain parts just cause she knew Sandra was listening intently to every word.

* * *

Scorpius sat by the lake, supposedly doing his Potions essay, but he had stopped after writing two sentences and was now staring out at the lake. There was a light breeze that blew his light blonde hair into a mess. He ran a hand through it to straighten it out.

He was extremely bored, it being a Saturday morning. Albus had gone off for Quidditch training. He felt a bit of regret for not scheduling Quidditch practice himself this morning, even though the next Slytherin match was ages away. The Slytherin sixth years have proven to be lousy entertainment, thus his current predicament of sitting by the lake himself instead. Plus he needed to escape Inez's incessant chatting that bored and annoyed him.

It was still early, and the only people outside now were a couple of second years talking by the huge oak tree. Then out of the corner of his eye, Scorpius spotted entertainment in the form of one redhead Gryffindor. Well it was better than nothing, and bickering with her was always an amusement to him.

"Oi! Red!" he shouted. Rose turned and saw him. She hesitated for a while before coming over, a look of annoyance on her face as she approached him.

"What is it Malfoy?" she said.

Scorpius merely shrugged and said, "I was bored. Needed someone to talk to."

"What makes you think I'd want to talk to you?" she asked, a hand on her hip. He sighed and turned to face her properly, such that his back was to the lake.

"Because we're probably the only two people crazy enough to wake up this early on a Saturday, with the exception of your cousin and his Quidditch team, and I'm guessing you don't have anyone to hang around with either. Well having some company would be good, even if company has to be you," he grinned.

"Drop dead Malfoy," she replied, a scowl on her face.

"I'd rather not," he said, smirking at her.

"Don't you have anything better to do? Perhaps spy on another girl taking her bath in the Prefects' bathroom?" Rose said.

Scorpius laughed, "Still on that eh Red? Anyway, did you hear? The Head Boy and Head Girl are planning to decorate the entire Hogwarts in the House colours. And there was something about putting up lights in the garden and stuff too."

"Really?" said Rose, her eyes shining, forgetting momentarily that it was the arrogant Scorpius Malfoy she was speaking with. "Oh that's wonderful! Hogwarts would look so beautiful."

"Well it just sounds like more work for us prefects. We're the ones who're gonna carry out all their grand plans remember? Why couldn't they just do with decorating the bloody Great Hall? That's where the main event is held anyway."

"You are without doubt the dullest person I've ever had the misfortune to meet," she said, shaking her head at him.

"Me? Dull? You've got to be kidding. I'm a sixth year from Hogwarts who's the bloody Quidditch Captain of the Slytherin team, I'm a prefect, my family has a whopper amount of money, and I can pretty much score any girl I want, and you think my life is dull?" Scorpius said, scoffing at her.

"I didn't mean it like that you moron. Sure you've got all those, but what I meant was _you_. You've never so much as bothered to stop to appreciate anything in life have you?" she said.

"Well excuse me for not stopping to sniff every bloody flower in my way," Scorpius said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"There, you've admitted it. You're dull."

"Am not. I do appreciate the things I have," he retorted.

"Really? Without looking back, tell me the colour of the flowers by the lake," Rose challenged.

"Yellow," Scorpius replied without hesitation.

"It's blue," she rolled her eyes, and then lifted her chin in an 'I told you so' manner.

"So I don't know the colour of the flowers. Big deal," he said. "I'm a guy, and guys don't notice these kinds of things."

"Excuses Malfoy, excuses," Rose said, sitting herself down on the grass and opening the book she had brought her with. Scorpius sat down too, but not beside her. He didn't think she would like that very much.

"What's that?" he asked, nodding towards the book.

"A novel. By a Muggle author," she said, not lifting her head from the book.

"Trust you to like reading," he muttered, rolling his eyes. She gave him a look.

"When your mother has a love for books and reads novels like _Pride and Prejudice _to you for your bedtime story when you're five, you tend to grow up liking books."

"What's that?"

"It's a Muggle book. Honestly, don't you read Malfoy? Oh right, I forgot, you're too dim-witted to understand anything," said Rose.

"For someone who beat you in last week's Potions test, I doubt I'm dim-witted at all," Scorpius smirked. He knew he had touched a nerve. Rose hated it every time he beat her in something.

"So you got an Outstanding and I got an Exceeding Expectations. Big deal Malfoy," she muttered darkly, turning the page of her book rather aggressively.

"You just have to be better than me in everything don't you?" he laughed.

"I don't have to, but I am," she replied.

"Sure you are Red," he said. He was momentarily distracted by a blonde Hufflepuff fifth year nearby who was smiling flirtatiously at him. He grinned back. This exchange didn't seem to escape Rose as she looked at him in disgust.

"You're an ass Malfoy," she announced, shutting her book and standing up.

"Not jealous are we?" said Scorpius.

"Hardly," she snorted, "I just don't want to sit here and watch you eye snog with that girl."

"Eye snog?" Scorpius raised his eyebrows, obviously amused.

"Yes Malfoy, eye snog. Now excuse me, I'll be heading back to the castle. I expect Albus's Quidditch practice should be over soon. Could you tell my cousin to come look for me when you see him? I have a bit of telling off to do regarding a letter he wrote to his parents," said Rose, before turning and stalking back to the castle. Scorpius watched her leave, a hint of a smile upon his lips, and then he turned back to the Hufflepuff, who was making her way over to him now, probably to ask him out to Hogsmeade.

* * *

"Merlin, practice was bloody tiring," Albus said, as he and Scorpius made their way to the kitchens together, seeing as to how James had made the team train past breakfast time.

"What'd you expect? Your match is in two weeks," said Scorpius. "By the way your cousin is looking for you."

"Which one?" asked Albus. "In case you haven't noticed, I've got about a dozen of them."

Scorpius chuckled. "Rose," he informed him.

"Rose? You were talking to her?" he asked.

"Yeah, this morning, down by the lake," said Scorpius.

"And, you managed to have a proper conversation with her?" Albus asked in disbelief.

"Not really, it was like the usual," said Scorpius, ignoring a group of fourth year girls who had giggled as they walked by.

"Oh..." Albus said, albeit a little disappointedly. He had always wanted his favourite cousin and his best friend to get along. "So did she say what she wanted me for?"

"Uh yeah, something about a letter you wrote to your parents I think," said Scorpius, recalling what Rose had said that morning. Albus paled when he heard it.

"Oh no..." he groaned.

"What?"

"I told my parents that –"

"ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER!"

A few first years in the corridor had scampered at the arrival of one Rose Weasley, Terra trailing behind her. Rose had a temper to match her Nana Molly's, and this was proof of it. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she approached the boys. Albus, much to the amusement of Scorpius, had taken to hiding behind him.

"What did you tell your parents?" Rose demanded, trying to make a grab at Albus, who only shrunk further behind Scorpius.

"Really Rosie, it's no big deal," he said, peeping at her from over Scorpius's shoulder.

"No big deal? Well how about I write to my parents that you're snogging with Loretta Flint huh? Since it's _no big deal_," Rose hissed menacingly. Loretta Flint was a seventh year from Slytherin and known for her huge size and acne. Guys were literally terrified of her.

"Like I would have such bad taste," Albus said indignantly, straightening up from behind Scorpius, momentarily forgetting that he was being scolded by Rose. She took the opportunity to grab him from behind Scorpius, grasping the front of his robes.

"Do you know that I got a six page letter from Dad on the importance of purity and innocence because Uncle Harry let slip that I was snogging Randy Daniels? Now how do you think Uncle Harry got that piece of information?" said Rose.

"She gets fiercer every year," Scorpius muttered to Terra by the side.

She nodded and replied, "At least she's not shoving him down the toilet in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. That's what she was threatening to do when we were on our way up here."

"Couldn't you do something before she kills him?" asked Scorpius, gesturing towards the scene before them.

"No way am I getting involved in that. Don't worry, she won't really kill him, maybe just a few bruises here and there...you know, the usual," Terra grinned.

"Look Rosie, I didn't mean to! It was just a passing comment and –" Albus said nervously.

"Oh look Fred! Family feud! How come we weren't invited?" said James, who had just arrived at the scene with Fred. He didn't seem particularly affected by the fact that his brother was almost being strangled by his cousin.

"So what's the story?" Fred asked, grinning as they approached the pair.

"Al here thought it'd be nice to tell Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny that he thought me and Randy Daniels snog when we do our prefect duties," Rose informed them, still not loosening her grip on Albus's robes.

"Ah, let me guess. Uncle Ron found out and decided to give you a lecture on how you should remain virgin till the day you die?" asked James.

"Pretty much," Rose replied, casting a dirty look at Albus. He mouthed 'help me' to James and Fred, but they only grinned at him.

"Tsk, tsk, such a bad boy Albus," said James, shaking a finger at him.

"Yes, we have half the mind to let Rosie throttle you to death here," said Fred. Albus's eyes widened.

"But we can't let you do that Rosie, we need him for the match against Ravenclaw in two weeks. We can't play without our Seeker," said James. "So as Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, I ask that you release my Seeker for the good of Gryffindor."

Rose raised her eyebrows at him in amusement.

"But we give you permission to murder him after he helps us win the match," said Fred.

"Fine," she muttered, letting go of him. Albus quickly straightened out his robes and ran to where Scorpius was standing several feet away from her.

"Now run along Albus dear, we have business to discuss with Rosie," said James. Albus gladly complied and hurried away with Scorpius, thankful to have escaped.

"If this is about the charm –"

"Now, now Rosie, we've moved on, got the spell ourselves, the plan is all ready for action! But that's not what we want to speak with you about," said James. He cast a look at Terra.

"Sorry Terra, this is top secret family business," Fred gave her an apologetic smile.

"So hurry on now," James waved her away. Terra scowled at him.

"I'll catch up with Albus and Scorpius. Could use a snack myself..." she said, going off in the direction of the kitchens.

"What is it?" Rose asked after Terra had gone.

"You know Jake Patterson from Slytherin?" said Fred.

"The guy who plays Chaser?" Rose asked.

"Yeah that's the one," James nodded.

"What about him?"

"He's interested in Roxanne," Fred grinned.

"Ok...but I don't think Roxy even knows –"

"They have Potions and Charms together, but you know Roxy, always hanging around Lily the loud, and the both of them basking in the attention of the boys," James said, wrinkling his nose.

"Thing is, this Patterson dude is gonna help us get this product from America, fresh off the shelves, but not imported to England yet and he wants a date with Rox."

"Wait, you're using your little sister in exchange for a product to prank people with?" Rose asked.

"Well, if you say it that way it sounds kinda bad, but he's a nice guy really. And you know Roxy and the girls look up to you. She'll listen if you tell her to go out with this guy!" James pleaded. Rose gave them a sceptical look.

"I swear I wouldn't set my sister up with a guy I don't think is good enough for her. You know me Rosie..." said Fred.

Rose hesitated and said, "Not until I meet this boy..."

"Great! We'll see what we can arrange. See you around kid!" James said, ruffling her hair.

"Don't call me kid!" Rose yelled after the boys as they walked away.

* * *

**A/N: There you go, third chapter! Hope you all enjoyed this one! And thanks so much to those who reviewed the last chapter! Super encouraged by your reviews! As usual, leave one for this chapter, hope to hear from you guys!**


	4. The One With Scorpina

Rose walked into the greenhouse for Herbology with Terra and spotted Albus at the side, talking with Scorpius. He cowered immediately after seeing her. He had been avoiding her the past few days, and it was wise of him to do so. Rose usually needed a few days to cool off.

If she had a choice, she would have chosen to seat herself far away from Albus, lest her temper got the better of her, but Terra had insisted on sitting beside Albus and Scorpius before Sandra had a chance to.

"Hello Albus, Scorpius," Terra greeted, ignoring the fact that her best friend was glaring murderously at Albus.

"Hello," said Scorpius, amused by the whole situation.

"Albus," Rose greeted curtly, choosing to completely ignore Scorpius as usual.

"How polite Red," Scorpius chuckled.

"What?" she snapped at him.

"Really, it's not like I'm transparent or something, a hello would have been nice," he said.

"I'm sorry," she said in a falsely sweet voice, "I don't have a habit of being nice to pompous prats."

"Right, _I'm _sorry, shouldn't have expected more from a goody two shoes," Scorpius retaliated.

Professor Longbottom had entered the classroom and as usual, seemed flustered at having to speak in front of an entire class.

"Uh, well, um...good morning. If you would just pair up..." he said.

"How immature Malfoy, name calling," said Rose.

"I seem to remember you're the one who started with 'pompous prats'," Scorpius smirked.

"Um, guys, we're supposed to pair up and –" Terra said.

"Don't pretend you aren't one Malfoy," said Rose.

"Likewise," he replied.

"Forget them, how about we pair up?" said Albus to Terra, who blushed. But Albus didn't notice.

"Oh, yeah sure," she said, tucking her hair behind her ears. Then glancing at the Rose and Scorpius, she said, "How long do you think it'll take for them to realize they have to pair up?"

"Right after Rosie says 'You're so full of yourself' and Scorpius says 'Get over it'," said Albus.

"You're so full of yourself!" Rose said.

"Get over it," Scorpius replied.

"Come on Terra, let's go work on that side of the room," Rose said.

"Can't Rosie, I'm pairing with Albus. We've already started," Terra grinned at her friend's horror struck face.

"Wait so that leaves me with –"

"Mister Malfoy, Miss Weasley, is something wrong there?" asked Professor Longbottom.

"Nothing," Rose mumbled. She didn't like getting making a scene in front of the teachers, especially not if the teacher was a good friend of your parents' and would probably tell them if you messed up in their class.

"Well looks like we're working together then," Scorpius muttered to her.

"Great, this'll make my day," she replied, grabbing potted plant and pulling it towards them, picking up a spade and picking at the dirt.

"That's not the way to do it Red," said Scorpius, attempting to grab the spade from her, but she held it away from him.

"I think I know how to do this Malfoy," she said. "I happen to beat you in Herbology."

"Yes, something you never fail to bring up whenever you have the chance to," Scorpius rolled his eyes, watching as she tried to pull the plant out from its roots.

"I think you should let me –"

"I can handle it Malfoy," she replied.

"Sure, that's why you've got dirt all over you and the plant is still in the soil," he said in an amused tone. "Try adding the green goo first."

She grabbed the pot of goo and poured it over, and the soil instantly became softer and easier to pick.

Scorpius snorted, but didn't say anything. Rose wanted to kick him really, but knew that she didn't have any reason to besides the fact that she was mad he had once again beaten her at something.

"Fine, so you do know your Herbology," she muttered.

"Took you so long to realize?" he said, watching her pull out the plant, its roots immediately springing to life now that it was in open air.

"No need to gloat Malfoy," she said, wrestling the plant into a new pot.

"Funny, that seems to be exactly what you do every time you beat me in something," he said, leaning down to whisper in her ear such that she could feel his breath on her neck. Rose dropped the plant and it went scurrying on its roots, causing girls to stand on their stools screaming while the boys just hopped around trying to avoid it.

"It's ok, it's ok..." said Professor Longbottom, grabbing the plant. "I'll just... find another pot in greenhouse two."

Then he left the room. Rose whirled around to face Scorpius.

"What was that for!"

"What?" he asked.

"Don't play dumb! Whispering in my ear? You made me drop that!" she said.

"And it's my fault you have such lousy reflexes?" said Scorpius. The other students were now watching their argument intently. Apparently they were convinced that Rose-Scorpius arguments always ended spectacularly.

"Me? Lousy reflexes? I think you're confusing me with yourself," said Rose.

"I'm the Quidditch player here Red, don't talk to me about my reflexes, I'll have you know –"

"Yeah sure, you've got great reflexes, that's why Slytherin hasn't won the Quidditch Cup in years!" she said. There were cries of protest from the rest of the Slytherins.

"You seem to think you know a lot about Quidditch for someone who's got her nose permanently stuck in a book," Scorpius said.

"I do not!" Rose cried out.

"Don't pretend Red, you live for books. You don't go anywhere without one. I'm willing to bet my broomstick you've got a book –other than your textbooks –in your bag right now," said Scorpius.

Rose flushed and he smirked, knowing that he was right.

"There's nothing wrong with carrying around a perfectly good book I'll have you know," she retorted.

"Of course not. Not when you're Rose Weasley," he said.

Rose was livid. He made it sound like she was some vermin that wasn't normal like the rest of the students. Without thinking for the consequences, she wrenched out her wand and pointed it at Scorpius. The next moment, the entire greenhouse was roaring with laughter, and Rose stared in horror and amusement at her handiwork.

Scorpius Malfoy was now dressed in a wedding gown, the old fashioned kind with plenty of lace. And all Rose could think now was, 'Thank Merlin that gown has sleeves.'

Scorpius himself had turned a bright shade of pink, angrily trying to find his wand amid the lace and ruffles of the dress. Even Albus beside him was trying and failing to stifle his laughter.

"Off to a wedding Malfoy?"

"Who're you hitching up with?"

"Nice dress Scorpina!"

Loud hoots and catcalls were coming from the boys, and Scorpius shot them all murderous looks. The girls giggled at how Scorpius looked. Unfortunately, the commotion had attracted the teachers as well.

"Oh my goodness! Mr Malfoy!" Professor Seely, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, exclaimed when she saw him. Professor Longbottom had also hurried back to the scene and seemed even more embarrassed than Scorpius himself when he saw him in the dress, choosing the look instead at the Mandrakes at the corner of the greenhouse. Albus hurriedly pulled out his wand and fixed his best friend. "Explain yourself Mr Malfoy!"

"I had nothing to do with it Professor," said Scorpius, giving Rose a glare. She wondered for a moment if he was going to tell the teachers it was her. After all, he had a whole corridor full of witnesses to back him up, not that she would have denied it anyways.

"I saw it Professors! It was that Weasley girl!"

Apparently Peeves had come to join the party and was happily pointing at Rose. She had an urge to swear at the poltergeist, but thought better of it and kept her mouth shut.

"Miss Weasley! Really! You are a Prefect; I expect better examples set by you. Detention on Saturday. You too Mr Malfoy."

"But –"

"No buts Mr Malfoy. You will turn up for detention with Miss Weasley on Saturday night, or else," said Professor Seely, giving them all a sweeping glance before leaving the scene. A sheepish looking Professor Longbottom looked like he had no idea what to do now.

"Uh well, I guess you are dismissed..." he said.

Students began filing out of the class, still discussing the latest occurance in the Rose-Scorpius feud. Rose was pretty sure that by that evening, the whole school would have heard of the fiasco.

"Well thanks a lot Red," Scorpius muttered, grabbing his bag and stalking out of the greenhouse, Albus following behind him.

"That was harsh," said Terra, as they made their way back to the castle.

"I didn't mean to! I wasn't thinking straight. He was being infuriating!" Rose defended herself.

Terra shrugged and patted Rose on the shoulder. Rose sighed, shaking her head.

* * *

Rose was right, the Great Hall was buzzing with all the gossip about what went down between her and Scorpius at Herbology that day.

"- wedding dress –"

"- poor Scorp –"

"- was kinda funny though –"

Rose sighed again and made her way to the Gryffindor table, towards where the clan was seated. Glancing over at the Slytherin table, she saw that Scorpius wasn't having an easy time shaking off the Slytherins' tauntings.

"Hey Scorpina! Pass the salad will you?" a seventh year yelled at him amidst snickers from the rest of his Slytherin friends. Scorpius's expression hardened as he glared at the seventh year. Even though he was a sixth year, he was still generally respected by even those older than him, because his family was old money, and he was the smartest and most good looking guy in practically the whole school. Naturally, he wasn't used to being made fun of, and he blamed Rose Weasley. Grabbing his bag, he stalked out of the Great Hall without finishing his dinner.

Rose sat down beside Albus, who shifted uncomfortably beside her, as if sitting next to her meant pledging allegiance against his best friend.

"Heard about the wedding dress Rosie," said Fred. "That was totally harsh! I mean we know you and Scorpius –"

"Oh give it a rest guys, I've had enough of listening to people tell me how horrible I was the whole day," Rose snapped.

"Yeah well, imagine how much flak Scorp got then," said Albus. "You should apologise to him Rosie, you know this one was your fault."

She knew he was right, she was the one who had crossed the line this time. Usually she would just attempt to hex him and she rarely succeeded because he was so quick and good with his wand as well. But something just made her tick today. Must be because it's the time of the month as well, she thought, that was why she was especially angsty.

She hated to admit it, but she had to apologise to Malfoy.

"I know..." Rose muttered. "I'll talk to him at detention."

* * *

Saturday night's detention came faster than Rose expected. Scorpius and her basically ignored each other pretty much throughout the week. No doubt he was still pissed at her. In fact, she barely saw him around except during lessons. He was probably waiting for the hype to die down a little too as well.

They had been instructed to head to the dungeons with Filch that night and Rose entered to find Scorpius already there with Filch.

"You're late Miss Weasley!" Filch growled.

Filch was, in the words of Fred and James, 'an ancient old smelly git'. It was hard not to agree though, he had been at Hogwarts since their parents' time, and from the stories they heard, he's been as grouchy since then. And personally, Rose thought he did smell a bit like he had dungbombs permanently attached to him.

"Sorry," she muttered. Scorpius just looked bored and avoided her eye.

"Now the both of you will scrub this dungeon clean," said Filch. Then he added with an evil grin, baring his yellow teeth, "without magic."

Then he left the dungeon, promising to check up on them again every half an hour to make sure they weren't 'slacking off'.

'_Great, two bloody hours with Malfoy_," Rose thought.

"Well, I suppose we better get started..." she said, glancing at him.

"Yeah whatever..." he muttered. He walked over to the pails of soap water and picked up a brush and started scrubbing the floors. Rose sighed and joined him.

After about 15 minutes of silence sans the sound of their brushes scrubbing away the dirt on the floor, Rose couldn't take it anymore. Scorpius and her had never spent so long in silence before. He wasn't even blaming her or making some smart remark about her!

Throwing her brush down, Rose said, "Look, can you just stop it already!"

"Stop what?" he raised his eyebrows at her.

"This!" She gestured wildly to the space between them, as if that explained everything. "I can't stand how you're not even _trying_!"

"Trying what, Weasley?" Scorpius drawled, returning to the scrubbing and ignoring her.

'_He called me Weasley, not Red_.' Rose realised.

"Can we just go back to normal? You're making me feel really guilty and uncomfortable about the whole thing."

"Well it was your fault," he said, giving her a cold look.

"Alright fine, I'm sorry ok! I know I crossed the line this time and it won't happen again," she said, throwing her arms up in the air in defeat.

"What did you say? I couldn't hear you, I was scrubbing the floors really hard," Scorpius said.

Rose gritted her teeth, "I said I was sorry."

"Oh, you're sorry are you?" Scorpius smirked. That famous devilish smirk. "Well apology accepted Red."

Rose was confused. How was it that Malfoy had switched from his cold demeanour to accepting her apology so quickly? Unless, he hadn't really been angry in the first place.

"Wait, Malfoy what –I don't –why are you –" she couldn't string her words together as he stood there with arms folded, still smirking at her.

"Oh I wasn't really _that_ upset about it. I mean, yeah you did cross the line, and I was getting tired of people talking about it, but honestly I got over it ages ago. Plus I have to admit it was a clever spell," he winked at her.

"So you tricked me?" Rose was stunned.

"Yeah, Albus told me you were contemplating apologising to me, and how could I let that pass? An apology from Rose Weasley to the great Scorpius Malfoy," Scorpius grinned.

Now Rose was livid. She couldn't believe he had tricked her into apologising to him! Scorpius found the whole situation rather amusing, and he also thought Rose looked quite attractive when she was mad, her eyes wide with anger and her flaming red hair seeming even wilder than usual.

And Rose did the first thing that came to her mind. She grabbed a bucket of soap water and flung its contents at Scorpius, leaving him sputtering and surprised.

"What! Merlin! Red!" Scorpius wiped the soap water away from his face. She thought he might be angry now, but she didn't really care. She thought she was rather clever for pulling that stunt, no matter how childish it may seem. But her initial satisfaction faded when Scorpius smirked and picked up the other pail.

"Oh no you don't, Malfoy...you wouldn't!"

"Oh wouldn't I, Red?" he then proceeded to dump the bucket over her head.

"MALFOY!" Rose yelled, trying to push her wet strands of red hair out of her face.

It was only after Scorpius had gotten over his peals of laughter and Rose had run out of profanities to yell at him that they both realised what they had done to each other. Both were clad in white school shirts due to the extra Transfiguration lesson the sixth years had earlier that afternoon, and these white shirts were now soaking wet and clung to their bodies. Rose was slightly embarrassed that her white bra could be seen through her shirt, and that her shirt hung on the curve of her waist. She also couldn't help but notice that Scorpius's white shirt now showed off his ripped abs, and that he was not one bit embarrassed by this exposure. He couldn't see why Rose was embarrassed, he thought her body looked great.

For some reason, the both of them took a step towards each other. Slipping on the wet floor, they both came crashing down on the ground, Rose reaching out to grab something and Scorpius seemingly reaching out to grab her. And somehow they landed with Rose on top of Scorpius, faces barely inches away from each other. This very compromising situation was exactly how Filch found them.

"WHAT IN MERLIN'S BEARD!" Filch yelled.

* * *

**A/N: Well this one was thoroughly enjoyeable to write! Do continue to leave your reviews, appreciate them all **


	5. The One With The Broom Ride

"Well, what have you two to say for yourselves?" said McGonagall.

Rose and Scorpius were both in her office, dripping soapy water on her carpet floor while Filch stood at one side looking gleeful at having gotten them in trouble.

"Professor, do you really believe him?" Scorpius gave a look that seemed to suggest it was all a mistake. "I mean, do you really think me and Rose..."

McGonagall looked doubtful, as if she was considering what Scorpius had just said. It now seemed to be foolish to have believed that Rose and Scorpius were doing things they shouldn't, when the whole staff knew the two bickered nonstop.

"But it's true Professor! I saw them with my own eyes!" Filch quickly said, when he sensed that McGonagall was hesitant. "Malfoy and Weasley, they looked like they were about to...to _kiss."_

Playing along with Scorpius, Rose said, "Ew! Professor do you really think I'd want to kiss _him?_"

She gave Scorpius a look of disgust and he smirked back at her.

"Well...no matter. The fact is the both of you did not do as you were instructed. The floors were not scrubbed, therefore you will return tomorrow night to finish scrubbing them. Goodnight," said McGonagall.

The two nodded and quickly left her office before Filch could say anything more to change her mind.

"Phew, that was lucky," said Rose.

"Yeah...good thing we managed to convince McGonagall," Scorpius grinned.

"It's still not funny what you did to me back there Malfoy," she glared at him, crossing her arms.

"Well as I seem to recall it, you're the one who decided to throw a bucket of water over my head first Red, so I really don't see why I have to take the blame for this," Scorpius replied.

"Hardly the point here," Rose scoffed, tossing back her fiery red hair.

"Oh live a little Red, you call me dull, but you're the one that's really the boring one" Scorpius said.

"What! Me? Boring? What absolute bollocks!" Rose replied, crossing her arms indignantly.

"When was the last time you did something for the fun of it? Not because you have to do it to do well in a class or because the rules say so?"

"I- I've done some pretty fun things..." Rose said, trailing off. Honestly, she couldn't think of a time she did something just for the thrill or excitement. But of course she wouldn't agree with Malfoy, not when he was calling her boring.

Scorpius smirked, "Yeah, I'm sure you have. Meet me at the lake at midnight Red, and I'll show you what 'fun' really is."

"And why should I?" said Rose, "If you've forgotten, we hate each other Malfoy. I'm not going to meet you at midnight! Besides, we're prefects, we shouldn't be out of bed."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Oh enough with the rules already Red, are you going to prove to me that you aren't dull or not?"

"I don't have to _prove_ anything to you, I don't care what you think!"

"Alright..." he replied nonchalently. He folded his arms and grinned at her, silently counting down in his head to when he knew she would give in. She glared at him. Oh how she wanted to wipe that smug look off his face. But she wasn't about to admit that she was a little nervous about what he had in mind. What if he made her jump into the freezing lake? Or run about the school naked or something? She shook her head.

"Is that a no Red?" he asked.

"I'll see you at midnight Malfoy, and you better not have any silly tricks up your sleeve," she tossed her head back and turned on her heel, walking quickly away from Malfoy in case she regretted her decision.

* * *

Rose lay in bed staring up at the ceiling. She could hear the even breathing of the rest of the girls in the sixth year dormitory, and even a little light snoring coming from Terra. She sighed and turned to her side, glancing at the clock by her bed.

11.50pm.

_To go or not to go? Damn Malfoy! I can't let him think I'm scared. And I most certainly am not dull! Oh bollocks._

She got out of bed quietly, grabbing her Weasley sweater that Nana had knitted for Christmas last year and pulled it over her head. Slipping on her socks and shoes, she tip toed out the room, glancing back once to make sure everyone was still asleep.

Stepping out into the chilly night, she shivered slightly as she made her way over to the lake. From a distance she could see Scorpius already there, skipping pebbles across the lake. He heard her approaching and turned around, smirking as she trudged over to him.

"Alright Malfoy I'm here, now let's get this over with before we get caught!" she whispered, looking around to make sure no one else was there.

"Relax Red, stop being so uptight!" Scorpius chuckled. He grabbed his broomstick from the ground and mounted it. Rose hadn't noticed it there. She blinked at him, not quite understanding.

"Well? Are you gonna get on?" he asked.

"Get on a broom with you? You must be mental!" she exclaimed. She wouldn't admit it in a million years, but Rose Weasley was secretly afraid of flying. Disappointed her father really, he had wanted to teach her to play Quidditch, but one incident of flying into a tree was enough to end her Quidditch career before it even began. That, coupled with the fact that she was a little afraid of heights.

"You're not scared of flying are you?" Scorpius asked, noticing her look of horror at his suggestion. Rose felt her face heat up. "You are, aren't you!"

"I am not!" she protested.

"Don't worry, I promise I won't let you fall. Just hop on already!"

"No!"

"Well, that just proves it then," Scorpius sighed, getting off the broom. "You're dull, Rose Weasley."

And then he proceeded to make his way back to the castle. Rose hesitated for a minute.

_Oh screw this!_

"Come back here Malfoy!" she hissed. He stopped and turned back to look at her.

"Changed your mind now, Red?" he smirked.

"I am not afraid, so get on that broom and let's go," she said, albeit her voice a bit shakily.

"Alright then," Scorpius grinned, walking back towards her and mounting the broom once more. Rose fidgeted with the hem of her sweater before getting on behind him. "You do realise you have to hold on to me or you'll fall right off right?"

"Yes," she replied through gritted teeth. She placed her hands gingerly on his shoulder, trying to go for minimal contact. All of a sudden, Scorpius grabbed her hands and pulled them around his waist. Before she could protest, they had shot off, and Rose wrapped her arms tightly around him for dear life.

Her eyes were shut for the first two minutes. She could feel them soaring higher and higher, and the wind was gushing around her, whipping her messy red hair back.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, I promise," Scorpius said. Somehow his voice sounded soothing, and Rose opened her eyes a tiny bit. She almost gasped. They were flying over the lake, she could see the swans and the ducks resting, the pale moonlight casting shadows on the surface of the water. It was breathtaking.

Scorpius took one hand off the broom and patted her hand that was circled around his waist. "See, told you there's nothing to be afraid of."

"You keep both hands on that broom mister! I am not about to die on a broom ride with you!" Rose exclaimed anxioiusly. Scorpius just chuckled as they continued to fly. "Where're we going anyway?"

"You'll see," he smiled.

After a few more minutes of flying, Rose could make out the Quidditch pitch in front of them. They circled the empty stadium once before Scorpius guided the broom to land in the middle of the field.

"What exactly are we doing here?" Rose asked, dusting what she imagined to be 'Malfoy germs' off the front of her sweater.

"Looking at the stars," he gave her a look as if that was the most obvious thing, then he proceeded to lie down on the grass.

"You drag me out of bed to look at stars? This is your idea of fun?"

"Just trust me Red," he relied, lifting his head off the ground to look at her for a second before lying back down.

With a sigh Rose sat down beside him, deliberating for a moment before she lay down as well. She sucked in a deep breath when she saw the vast amount of stars that dotted the dark sky, and the pale moon that shone at the side. It was a sight indeed. The two of them lay there in silence for a few minutes, taking in the view of the night sky while listening to the crickets chirping in the empty stadium.

"Sometimes, I like to come here by myself at night before a match, and lie here. Being surrounded by an empty stadium somehow calms me," Scorpius said. Rose turned to look at him, moonlight bouncing off his pale skin and blonde hair as he stared serenely up at the sky. He turned to her and grinned. "So tell me why you don't fly."

She scowled and turned away from him. "I just don't."

"You're scared, I can tell," he said, reaching his hands behind his head and clasping them together, resting his head on them.

"Just some incident when I was young," Rose murmured, unwilling to tell Scorpius too much.

"Accident on a broom huh?" Scorpius asked. "Had a couple too when I was young. Father was teaching me to fly, fell off about a hundred times. Had no talent my father said. One time when I was six, I fell and broke my arm. Father sent me to St. Mungo's to get it fixed and made me get back on the broom the next day."

"That cruel!" Rose frowned. Scorpius just chuckled.

"Well that's the way he is my old man. Paid off didn't it? Fly like a pro now," he winked at her.

"Still, you were just a kid! He shouldn't have pushed you so hard!"

"Concerned for me Red?" Scorpius grinned. Rose rolled her eyes. "Father had good intentions despite his methods. It's just part of being a Malfoy."

They both fell silent again. Rose thought of what Scorpius's childhood must have been like. _Part of being a Malfoy. What did that even mean? It sounded as if his father never gave him a chance at a real childhood. Maybe that's why he's such a childish prick now._

Scorpius suddenly jumped to his feet and Rose sat up.

"Come on Red, better get back to the castle before someone discovers we're both out of bed."

He held out a hand to help her up. Rose ignored it and pushed herself off the ground herself. He smiled to himself and shook his head, climbing onto his broom.

* * *

The next few days, Rose and Scorpius barely spoke, or rather barely bickered. It was a strange peace and quiet when they were around each other. She still threw him looks of disdain, and he still gave her his annoying devilish smirks, but nothing else. Albus and Terra were beginning to find their behaviour really strange.

It wasn't that they avoided each other. It wasn't that that night had some sort of huge significance. But both of them hadn't told anyone else about it. It was just that Rose didn't feel the compulsive urge to yell at Scorpius that much these days, and Scorpius didn't see a need to tease her either.

The Gryffindors had just finished Potions with the Slytherins and Rose, Terra, Albus and Scorpius walked out of class together.

"Alright, I gotta ask, what is up with you two?" Albus said, staring at his best friend and his cousin.

"What?" Scorpius asked innocently.

"You guys haven't hurled any insults or hexes at each other for about a week already! It's weird," Terra shrugged. Albus nodded in agreement.

"I thought you guys hated it when we fought?" Rose asked.

"Yeah but…what happened?" asked Albus.

"Nothing. I still think he's a prick," Rose declared. Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Some things never change…"

"I'm just too tired with all the schoolwork to bother myself with Malfoy," she said.

"Sure Red, or is it you've started to like me better after that –" Rose stomped on his foot and Scorpius grimaced in pain.

"Seriously Red, real mature of you."

"After what? What happened with you guys?" Albus asked curiously.

"Nothing of your concern Al," Rose replied, grinning smugly at the 'damage' she did to Scorpius.

"Oi Rosie!" she turned to see Fred and James dragging a Slytherin over towards her.

"Hey Scorpius," the Slytherin greeted, before he turned to Rose and started blushing.

"This is Jake Patterson! The guy we were telling you about! You know? Our product from America?" James said excitedly.

"Oh, right," Rose said. "Nice to meet you Jake."

He stared at her outstretched hand in awe, and Rose withdrew it awkwardly seeing as to how he seemed to have no intention to shake it.

"So, how do you know Roxy?" she asked.

"Roxy? Oh you mean Roxanne Weasley? I'm in fourth year too, we have Charms together," he stammered out a reply, grinning broadly at Rose.

"I see, and you want to date her?" said Rose. At this, Jake Patterson's eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Date her? No! I wanna date you!" he said, before turning beet red again. "I think you're the most beautiful girl in Hogwarts."

"What! You said you wanted to date my cousin!" James said, pulling him roughly by the scruff of his neck. The boy cowered in fear at James's gaze.

"Well she is your cousin ain't she?" he retorted. Terra sniggered while Scorpius looked on with a bemused expression on his face. Albus was just confused.

"Wait, you didn't even ask him properly which cousin before you jumped to conclusions yourself?" Rose glared at Fred and James.

"Oops," Fred grinned sheepishly at her.

"Hey you said you'd set me up on a date. If she ain't gonna date me then I ain't giving you your product!" Patterson folded his arms. Rose gave him a quelling look that sent him cowering and turning red again. He was shorter than she was, but had a stocky built from the Quidditch he played.

Fred and James stared imploringly at Rose.

"Oh no, if you think I'm going to –"

"Please Rosie! We really need this product!" James pleaded.

Scorpius stepped between Rose and Jake. "Alright Patterson, give these guys what they want or you're cut from the Slytherin team."

"What! Scorpius you can't do that!"

"Well I'm Captain, I can do what I want. You aren't exactly the best player on the team either, easily replaceable," Scorpius said. Jake scowled at him. "Besides, you don't wanna date Weasley, she's bossy and naggy, you'll get tired of her pretty soon."

"Hey! Malfoy I'll have you know –"

"That's right! She's no good, but if you want we can set you up with our _other_ cousin Roxy! Gorgeous girl, _way_ better than Rosie!" James chimed in, ignoring the death glare he was getting from Rose.

"Fine, I'll give you what you want. Now about Roxanne…" Jake walked away with Fred and James.

"What was that all about!" Rose glowered at Scorpius.

"I just saved you from dating a fourth year, you should be thanking me instead Red," Scorpius replied.

"_Thanking_ you? You told the guy I was bossy and naggy and that he'd get tired of me!" said Rose.

"Well you've got to agree it is true –"

Rose smacked him hard on the arm.

"Ow! Violence is not becoming of a lady Red!" Scorpius winced. She hit hard considering how petite she was.

"Well, good to know things are back to normal for you too," Albus sighed, grabbing Scorpius and dragging him away before his cousin could inflict any more physical pain on his best friend.

Rose grinned triumphantly at Albus and Scorpius's retreating backs before turning to Terra, who had a look of curiousity and skepticism on her face.

"What?" Rose asked.

"I think I should be asking you that. What happened between you and Scorpius?" Terra grinned.

Rose rolled her eyes and started walking to the Gryffindor common room, Terra falling in step beside her.

"Nothing happened."

"Oh come on, you aren't even gonna tell me? Do you have a crush on Scorp?"

"Ew no! Bugger off, nothing's going on between us!"

* * *

**A/N: Hello all! Thanks so much to all the awesome reviews! Keep them coming, love to hear what you guys think of what I'd written so far :D Also, updates are fairly quick because I've had the first couple of chapters written for a while, but it may slow down after this one as I'm still working on chapters 6 and 7. I like to have a few chapters ready ahead to make sure the storyline is going accordingly. Anyway, thanks again and do leave a review!**


	6. The One With The Mouth To Mouth

Winter came quickly this year, and by mid November snow was falling hard and carpeting the school grounds in thick layers. Quidditch season had also started and there was still much buzz around the school about Gryffindor's triumph over Hufflepuff in the first match of the season.

It was breakfast time when a swoop of owls flew into the Great Hall. There was always excitement when mail arrived. Rose spotted their family owl and it dropped a letter on her lap. Almost all the clan had gotten a letter. Rose opened the envelope and pulled out a sheet of parchment.

_Dear Rose and Hugo,_

_Hope the both of you are having a wonderful time in school! We're writing to let you know that unfortunately (for you), you'll have to spend Christmas and New Year in Hogwarts this year because (fortunately for us the cool adults) your Uncle Percy got promoted at the Ministry and managed to get us all invited to the annual Ministry Christmas cruise. It may not seem like a big deal but it is to us working adults who have not had a holiday in ages. So we're all going, the bunch of us. Even your Grandpa Arthur and Nana Molly. So you're on your own kids!_

_Love,_

_Dad_

_P.S. Your mum says she'll owl you your Christmas presents!_

"A Ministry Christmas cruise? You gotta be kidding me!" James said, staring at disbelief at his letter.

"What is it?" Albus asked, grabbing the letter from James's hand and Lily peering over his shoulder to read it as well.

I handed the letter over to Hugo to read while Fred waved his letter and said, "Same here."

"We're missing Nana's roast turkey cause of a cruise?" Hugo asked, squinting at the letter.

"This is all _your_ fault," James said, leaning in close to Molly.

She tossed back her auburn hair and replied, "How is this _my_ fault?"

"It's Uncle Percy who got promoted! He's your dad! Of course it's your fault!" James retorted, folding his arms. Rose couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. He was still as childish as ever.

"Oh please, our letter says it was Aunt Fleur who really wanted to go because she's never been on a cruise before," Lucy replied.

"Maman should have just gone back to France for Christmas," Dominique muttered.

"Come on guys, it won't be that bad. Our first Weasley-Potter Christmas and New Years in Hogwarts!" Fred said, trying to cheer the clan up.

"Oh oh!" James started bouncing in his seat excitedly while grinning at Fred.

"Are you about to wet yourself James?" Fred raised his eyebrows at him.

"Nooooo, party Fred!" James replied. Slowly a grin spread over Fred's face.

"Yeah, it's our final year, we've always wanted to do it!" Fred said. The rest of the clan looked at them in confusion.

And then James did the unthinkable. He got up, and climbed onto the table in the middle of the Great Hall. Students stopped eating and stared at him.

"Oi everyone! Fred and I are throwing a New Year's Eve party this year! All are welcome!" he yelled, much to the horror of the teachers at the staff table, especially McGonagall who looked absolutely appalled. It was probably worse that James was from her house.

Needless to say, James got detention for that one.

* * *

"Please tell me you're staying for Christmas," Rose said, lying on her stomach on her bed as she watched Terra paint her toenails across the room.

"Sorry I can't, my folks definitely want me home for Christmas. Trust me I wish I could stay, now that Albus will be here in this deserted castle with Sandra to distract him," Terra replied. Rose wrinkled her nose.

"Why don't you just ask him out already, you've fancied him since forever," she said.

"I can't ask him out," Terra said exasperatedly. "He doesn't even think of me that way."

"Al doesn't think. Period. But you'd be glad to know Sandra was talking about heading home for the holidays, so no chance of catching her under the mistletoe with Al."

Terra grinned hugely at this piece of news.

"Awesome! Anyway you should be thinking about your own love life. I've never heard you say you fancied anyone, ever. I mean, except for Teddy I guess, but that was ages ago," said Terra, carefully applying varnish to her big toe.

Rose blushed at the memory of her secret crush on Teddy Lupin when she was in her first year. He and Victoire had just started dating, but Rose had always thought he was extremely handsome and dashing. That crush didn't last long, not after she grew up and realised Teddy and Victoire were in love.

"Oh shut up," said Rose. "That was a long time ago and you promised you'd never bring it up again."

"Well I heard one of the Scamander twins fancy you," Terra quipped.

"Which one?" Rose asked, her eyebrows raised.

The Scamanders were family friends, but they were never really close. Lorcan and Lysander Scamander were in Ravenclaw. Outside of school the Weasleys and Potters met the Scamanders and Longbottoms at the occasional family gathering and were friendly with each other, but in school they were never considered part of the clan despite their parents being close friends.

"Lorcan."

"Oh," Rose simply said.

"Aren't you even the least bit interested?" Terra nudged her.

The twins were good looking. They had jet black hair and a good physique from playing as Beaters on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

"I barely know the guy. I see him once a year over the summer and we hardly interact in school!" she replied.

"Yeah but he's fit and you know it! Or is this because of a certain Slytherin that you aren't considering anyone else," Terra laughed.

"What! If you're insinuating something about me and Malfoy –"

"Oh come on! You don't still think he's terrible after that broom ride do you?" Terra wiggled her eyebrows at Rose.

"I told you that in strict confidence! And I emphasised that it meant nothing. He was just trying to prove a point," Rose said. "It doesn't change anything between us Terra, we still can't stand each other."

"Alright," she said in a sing song voice, as if she didn't actually believe Rose. "Where's he headed for Christmas anyway?"

"Apparently here in this cosy castle with the rest of us," Rose sighed. The thought of spending Christmas and New Years with that dreadful Slytherin irked her. She really wished she could be at the Burrow with the entire family instead.

"Oooh, no Christmas at the Malfoy Manor this year?" asked Terra.

"His father's on some business trip to Bulgaria or something," Rose shrugged.

"Rose and Scorpius trapped in Hogwarts for the holidays. This ought to be interesting," Terra sniggered. "Be sure to fill me in on all the details!"

Rose was about to launch into a speech about how she and Scorpius were never going to be an item when Lily popped her head into the dormitory.

"Hey guys! The lake has frozen solid and everyone's out skating! Come on!" she beckoned, eyes shining with excitement.

"Sure! We'll be there in a minute!" said Terra, screwing her bottle of nail polish and muttering a charm to dry her nails instantly. "Best charm I ever learnt."

* * *

Lily was right, the lake had frozen solid and there were a bunch of people skating around. Most of the clan were there and Fred and James were entertaining a bunch of people by doing a really weird dance on ice. Much to her displeasure, Rose discovered that Scorpius was skating as well. He smirked at her when he saw her approaching but said nothing more as he skated away.

Rose and Terra stepped on the ice, Terra a little more tentatively as she couldn't skate very well. She was just about to slip and fall when Albus skated to her side and grabbed her.

"Hey there! Careful, you could really hurt yourself falling on this," he smiled. Terra was reduced to a sputtering mess at the close proximity of Albus Potter. Rose could only roll her eyes at her best friend.

"Thanks, I'm not very good at this," Terra said, blushing slightly.

"I'll help you," Albus offered. He reached out his hand, "Here grab on to my hand and I'll teach you."

Terra looked about to faint right there as she held onto Albus's hand. Rose smiled and decided to give them some time by themselves. She knew Terra wouldn't appreciate her hanging around.

Rose skated over to Lily, Dominique, and Roxy, but was cut off by none other than Scorpius Malfoy. He almost made her stumble and fall as he skated right in front of her, causing her to collide into him, grabbing onto his arms for support.

He chuckled, "Well hello to you too, Red."

Shoving him away, Rose retorted, "What in Merlin's name was that! Were you trying to kill me Malfoy?"

"Just wanted to come over and say hi," Scorpius said, skating circles around Rose now, much to her annoyance. And she especially hated how graceful he looked doing it, in that very cool and collected, carefree manner.

"Well I have nothing to say to you, so –"

She attempted to skate away but was once again intercepted by him.

"Damn it Malfoy, leave me alone you sodding prick!" Rose's eyes flashed angrily as she whipped out her wand.

"No need for that Red," Scorpius laughed. Rose glared at him as she stowed away her wand, determined not to let Malfoy get on her nerves. She knew he derived satisfaction from how easily he could rile her up. _That childish moron_.

She skated further along the lake, away from the crowd, hoping to get away from Scorpius, but he followed her anyways.

"Malfoy!" she whirled around, throwing her hands up in the air. "Do you not have anything better to do than to stalk me?"

"Well I –"

Before he could finish his sentence, he noticed that the area Rose had skated to was where the ice was thinning.

"Red, we're treading on thin ice here, I think we better –"

"Damn right Malfoy! And if you think you can –"

"Not the metaphor Red!" Scorpius said impatiently, trying to make a grab at her, but Rose dodged him and skated further back.

"Red! Come back here it's not safe!" Scorpius yelled. Just as he said it, it happened. It was like slow motion, but in reality it happened rather quickly.

The ice gave way beneath Rose's feet, and she fell deep into the icy cold water with an ear piercing scream.

Within seconds most of the clan had skated over while the rest of the people chose to watch from a safer distance. Rose had resurfaced and was sputtering and splashing about before she went under again. Without thinking, Scorpius yanked off his skates and pulled off his scarf, coat and sweater. Before anyone could stop him, he dived head first into the water.

"Scorp what the hell!" Albus yelled to stop his best friend, but he was too late.

As Scorpius dived under water, he tried to ignore the piercing pain of ice cold water engulfing him as he struggled to see. Catching sight of Rose's limp and lifeless body floating beneath him, he kicked his legs, swimming towards her. Hooking his hand underneath her chin, he swam back to the surface.

Fred and James helped to drag both of them out of the water and off the ice. A crowd had gathered around them now as they hovered over Rose's lifeless body.

"We need to get her to the Hospital Wing!" Terra said.

"No time," Scorpius muttered. And then he leaned down, and covered Rose's mouth with his.

* * *

Rose was wrapped in a warm duvet on the couch in the Gryffindor common room by the fire, with Albus and Terra by her side. They had sneaked off to the kitchens to get her some hot soup which she was drinking right now.

"Thanks you guys," she muttered, in between sips of the soup.

"Don't thank us, thank Scorp. He's the one who saved you," Albus grinned. Rose narrowed her eyes at him.

"You seem too happy about the situation. If you're forgetting, I almost drowned today," Rose reminded him.

"And if Scorpius didn't think to give you mouth to mouth rescucitation, you'd be a goner!" Terra chimed in.

Rose grimaced at the thought of Scorpius Malfoy's lips touching hers. She didn't remember any of it, she just heard from the rest that she started coughing up all the water she had swallowed, and then Scorpius had carried her to the Hospital Wing. She also knew that their lips had touched in front of everyone who had been out skating at the lake.

Oh the horror. Now the whole school was going to know she and Malfoy had touched in such a disgusting manner.

"Yeah whatever," she muttered. "Could we not talk about it now. I'm still really traumatised."

She wasn't, not that much at least. She just didn't want them to keep singing praises about Scorpius in front of her and guilt her into being thankful to that Slytherin jerk.

"Ok, well Randy Daniels asked me to the ball yesterday," Terra said, giving a sideways glance at Albus to see his reaction. He appeared nonchalent, much to her disappointment.

"Oh, did you say yes?" Rose asked.

"No, I told him I'd think about it," Terra replied. "Um, who're you asking Albus?"

"Oh yeah, Sandra's been hinting about the ball for a while and I figured I might as well just ask her."

Terra's face crumpled as she stammered an excuse before getting up and running up the stairs to the sixth year girls' dormitory.

"What's up with her?" Albus asked in surprise. "Did I say something?"

"Oh Merlin," Rose muttered, staring up at the ceiling.

"What?" Albus asked, a look of utter confusion on his face.

"Do you really need it to be spelt out for you in bright flashing neon signs before you get it? Terra fancies you! For what reasons I cannot comprehend, but yes, she has fancied you for the past two years and you've never so much as noticed. I can't believe I'm related to such a doofus like you," Rose said, shaking her head.

Albus blinked at her, digesting this latest piece of news. "She fancies me?"

"Yes! So if you're smart enough you would ask her to the ball, because she has been waiting and waiting and waiting and if you don't make your move soon, someone else is going to snatch her up! Like Randy Daniels!"

"Wow…I never knew," Albus looked dazed.

"Alright, you mull over it. I can't believe I told you, Terra's not gonna be happy with me. Whatever it is, just don't hurt her feelings ok," Rose said, struggling to get up.

"Yeah sure…" Albus nodded, still looking very surprised. Rose shook her head at him and made her way back up to her dormitory.

* * *

"Morning Red!"

Rose quickened her pace at the sound of the voice behind her. But it was no use, he caught up with her.

"That's no way to treat your hero," Scorpius grinned. Rose glared at him.

"I can't believe you did that to me in front of everyone!" she retorted.

"Did what? Mouth to mouth?" he smirked.

"Yes that!"

"I was saving your life Red. Believe me, if I had a choice I would rather not have done it either," he replied.

"Yes but – couldn't you just – urgh you're a moron Malfoy!" she said exasperatedly.

"Don't tell me that was your first kiss," Scorpius grinned. "You aren't that much of a prude are you?"

"Of course not! Merlin if it were I'd probably have hexed you into oblivion by now," she said angrily.

"Calm down Red, you were unconscious, it's not as if you remember any of it," he said.

Rose folded her arms and glared, willing him to walk away. He just beamed at her silence and said, "You're really useless aren't you? Can't fly, can't swim, what else can't you do?"

"I can't figure out why I just wasted five minutes of my life talking to you," she replied, turning on her heel and marching off. Scorpius fell in step beside her.

"Well I did save your life, don't I deserve some credit for that?"

"Considering you were the one who caused me to almost die in the first place, no!"

Scorpius chuckled and ignored her comment.

"So we'll be spending Christmas together this year, excited?" he smirked.

"No," came her flat reply. She glowered at him. "Don't you have some other girls to annoy Malfoy?"

"Oh you know you'll always be my number one target," he winked.

"Urgh, bugger off Malfoy and leave me alone!" she said, quickening her pace once more even though she knew it was no point. Her 5"4 self is never going to outwalk him, towering over her at 6".

"It really hurts my feelings Red when you dismiss me like that," Scorpius said, grinning at her.

"If I said 'thank you' for saving my life will you leave me alone?" Rose asked.

"I'd consider it," he replied.

"Ok," Rose sighed in exasperation. "Malfoy you annoying sodding fool, thank you for saving me from drowning, and for planting your humongous fat lips upon mine to give me the kiss of life. Now sod off!"

Scorpius laughed loudly at her proclamation.

"I don't approve the choice of adjectives, but I'll take what I can get," he smirked. He turned to walk away from her, "Later Red!"

* * *

**A/N: Hello! Again, big thanks for all the reviews! They are all wonderful and keeping me motivated! Also, if there was any confusion in the beginning part of this chapter with the introduction of new names such as Molly, Lucy, Dominique etc, they are part of the Weasley-Potter clan. If you still have no clue what I'm talking about, go look up the family tree the wonderful amazing JK Rowling drew up for the Weasley family. And the Lysander twins are the sons of Luna Lovegood (also in the family tree JK Rowling drew up). This story will include occasional appearances from the rest of the clan, but focuses more on Rose's and Albus's family members, i.e. James, Lily, Hugo. And of course Fred since he and James are best buds (in my story). Well, hope that clears things up for everyone!**

**Do leave a review please! Thank you!**


	7. The One With Albie

It's been a week since Rose told Albus about Terra fancying him and he had been avoiding her like the plague. Rose was beginning to regret even telling him in the first place, and she hadn't had the courage to explain to Terra why Albus was dodging her either.

They were making their way to the centre of the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall as usual for dinner. Most of the clan were already there, including Albus. His gaze flickered over to Terra for a moment before he hastily glanced back down at his soup. Terra's face fell a little as she took a seat next to Lily. Rose sat down next to her and glared at Albus.

James chose this very moment to talk to his brother about the traditional ball.

"Oi Al! So who're you taking to the ball?" he asked, clapping him on the shoulder.

Albus mumbled something incoherent, determined not to look Terra's way.

"Well better ask someone soon or all the good ones will be taken up lil' brother!" James quipped.

"You're one to talk, you haven't got a date either," Fred rolled his eyes at him, taking a huge bite out of his burger at the same time.

"Who says I haven't?" James said smugly. "Pauline Spinnet. Asked her after Charms yesterday."

"What! How come I didn't know about that?" Fred asked indignantly.

Lily leaned over and casually asked, "Hey Terra, who're you going with to the ball?"

Rose groaned inwardly. Why of all dinner topics did they have to choose to talk about the ball now!

Terra glanced at Albus as she replied, "Uh, Randy Daniels asked me. I'm probably gonna say yes…"

"Wow, Daniels huh. That's not bad," Lily nodded approvingly.

Rose felt a kick under the table. She looked up to see Albus trying to communicate with her by making the strangest expression ever. She was torn between laughter and exasperation at her cousin's ridiculous face right now.

"Al, did you just swallow something terrible? You look like you're about to hurl," Dominique said, squinting at Albus.

"Uh no. Rosie, a word please," Albus said, giving up on the silent communication and jerking his head toward the entrance of the Great Hall.

"Alright," Rose replied, putting down her napkin and rising from her seat to follow him out of the Great Hall.

Once they were in the corridor, which was empty sans a few second years, Rose rounded on her cousin, hands on her hips and eyes blazing. Albus took a step back.

"What is the meaning of this Albus Severus Potter!" she huffed.

"Wow, full name huh," Albus gulped. Then he sighed and ran a hand through his thick black hair. "Look cuz, I wanna fix this, but I don't know how."

"It's a simple thing Al! You fancy her, you ask her out. You don't fancy her, you tell her you see her as a friend and end this once and for all! Now which is it?" Rose asked. She was tired of watching Terra sulk all day because Albus was going to great lengths to avoid her, and tired of feeling guilty that it was partly her fault as well.

"I don't know Rosie," Albus whined. "I mean, Terra and I, we've always been sorta like mates you know? We hang around with each other because of you. We get along and stuff and it ain't the same as fancying someone innit?"

Rose felt disappointment creeping up inside her. She had always known how Terra felt about Albus, but she had never bothered to find out how Albus felt about Terra. And though she had never given it much thought, a part of her had believed it would be ideal if her best friend and her cousin got together. But now here Albus was, crushing all the prospective by saying he didn't fancy Terra!

"So you don't fancy her," Rose stated.

Albus could see her disappointment showing in her eyes.

"I'm saying I don't know," he replied. "I need some more time to think about it. I don't wanna hurt her feelings Rose, she's your best mate, and she's my friend too."

Rose nodded understandingly.

"Oh Albie, I just wish you two would be together, she's been head over heels for you since fourth year and –"

Rose clapped a hand over her mouth, silently cursing herself for revealing more of her best friend's secrets to the object of her affections.

"Fourth year huh?" Albus said, with eyebrows raised. And then he narrowed his emerald eyes at her, "And what did I say about calling me 'Albie'?"

"Not to call you Albie?" Rose grinned. "But Aunt Ginny –"

"Never mind what my mother calls me at home! It's hardly a name for a bloke around here," Albus said, looking around frantically, afraid that some pesky second year might have heard Rose calling him that.

"Fine," she mumbled.

"Anyway, I'll figure this out soon, I promise," Albus said, rubbing her head and messing up her hair while Rose scowled at him in return. "Meanwhile, mind telling me what's been going on between you and Scorp?"

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, attempting to flatten her messed up curls.

"I dunno, the two of you seem different lately," he shrugged, reaching out to help her comb out a few stray strands of red hair.

"Well he did save my life…" Rose said reluctantly.

"Yeah he did," Albus grinned. "Maybe now you guys can finally be frie-"

"_Don't_ even say it Al," Rose cut him off. "Malfoy and I will never be friends."

Albus sighed, "I wish you guys would just drop everything and figure out how similar the two of –"

"Malfoy and I are in no way similar!" Rose snapped, folding her arms indignantly.

"Ok, ok," Albus said, raising his hands in surrender. "Gee cuz, no need to get your wand in a knot."

"You concentrate on your deal with Terra and I'll handle my own relationships ok?" said Rose.

* * *

"Albus has been avoiding me lately," Terra whispered in the middle of Potions. Rose jumped a little and cursed inwardly as she accidentally threw in an extra dash of unicorn hair into her Everlasting Elixir.

Terra had been by her side chopping up ingredients to her own potion mundanely before she had suddenly whispered and broken Rose's concentration. She was neck to neck with Scorpius in Potions and she really didn't want to come up with an Elixir that wasn't as good as his. She watched dismayed as her potion turned a darker shade of purple than the clear lilac she was supposed to have achieved.

"You're imagining things," she murmured back to Terra, while flipping through her Advanced Potions textbook to try and find a way to fix her potion. Glancing over to Scorpius who was diagonally in front of her, she frowned when she saw his potion had turned lilac. As if sensing her gaze on him, he turned around, glancing down at her purple coloured potion and smirking before turning back to his own potion.

"I'm not, Rose. He literally turned and brisk walked away from me when we saw each other between classes this morning. What's going on? Al must have told you about it," Terra pressed on, determined to get the truth out from Rose.

Rose stirred her potion counter clockwise twice and muttered a spell with her wand, grinning with satisfaction as her potion turned to clear lilac.

"He hasn't said a thing to me about you," Rose whispered back, cheeks flushing a little from the lie she just blatantly told. She hoped Terra wouldn't notice, or would just attribute it to the heat from brewing the Elixir.

"I must have done something," Terra mumbled miserably, glancing at Albus seated two rows in front of them. Then Terra widened her eyes and turned to Rose again. "You don't think he _knows_ do you?"

"Knows about what?" Rose asked, even though she knew perfectly well.

"That I fancy him," Terra stated.

"Pshh, no!" Rose scoffed, feeling the colour rising in her cheeks again.

"Miss Weasley, Miss Jones, I do not appreciate all this talking!" the Professor said, rapping his knuckles on their table. They mumbled their apologies and Rose heaved a sigh of relief as Terra dropped the conversation for the rest of the lesson.

* * *

"Mate, you've been acting weird around Terra lately," Scorpius said, tossing an apple up and down casually as he sat in an empty classroom with Albus.

Albus was trying to do his Herbology homework while Scorpius was merely bored and thought he'd come hang out with his best mate. He was sorely disappointed when he found Albus doing work.

"Uh yeah, well…she kinda fancies me," Albus shrugged, flipping the page of his Herbology textbook.

"I know that, still doesn't explain why you're playing the disappearing act every time she's around," Scorpius replied.

"Well I can't possi –wait what do you mean you know?" Albus looked up from his book and gave Scorpius a quizzical stare.

"It's obvious innit? Been obvious the whole time," Scorpius raised his eyebrows at him.

"_Obvious_? I never knew till Rosie told me a week and a half ago!" Albus exclaimed. He gave Scorpius a smack on the head. "Why didn't you ever tell me you wanker!"

"Ow! I thought you knew mate! I figured you weren't interested so you ignored it," he said, rubbing his head where Albus had hit him.

"Well great, what am I supposed to do now?"

"For starters, you can stop acting like an idiot around her and be normal," Scorpius advised. "She's gonna figure you know about it if you keep acting this way, _Albie_."

Albus glared at him. "Who told you that nickname? It wasn't Rosie was it?"

"Al, I've been at your place enough times to hear your mother refer to you with that name, and your grandmother too," Scorpius replied, smirking at his best friend.

"Yeah well, don't call me that!" Albus said. Scorpius rolled his eyes at him.

"So do you fancy her or not?" he asked, taking a bite of the apple he had been tossing.

"I dunno mate…I mean, she's Rosie's best friend, I never thought of her that way y'know?" said Albus, returning to flipping through his textbook.

"What do you think of her then?"

Albus leaned back on his chair and hesitated before saying, "She's pretty, definitely. Real nice too. I've never hung out with her alone before, but sometimes we hang out together at Rosie's place over the summer and she's a lot of fun."

"She's gotta be pretty smart too if she and Red are best friends," Scorpius added.

"Was that some sort of indirect compliment for my cousin?" Albus asked, grinning at Scorpius.

"Focus Al, we're talking about your deal with Terra here."

"Right."

"Why don't you just ask her out to Hogsmeade next weekend, no harm going on a date and seeing how things go," Scorpius said.

"I dunno mate, I don't wanna get her hopes up and then tell her I don't fancy her. Rose would rip me to shreds," Albus shuddered at the thought of his cousin.

"Whatever you do Al, you better deal with it quick cause it's been almost two weeks and the longer you drag this on, the more unhappy Red's gonna be with you. Merlin, I do enjoy watching her go berserk, but I'd hate to see my best mate being murdered by his own cousin," Scorpius chuckled.

* * *

Rose sat with Terra in the Gryffindor common room. She had just finished recounting to her about telling Albus she fancied him when Albus himself came stumbling through the portrait hole. He took one look at the two of them, and for a moment Rose thought he was going to bolt again. Surprisingly, he walked over to them, a nervous look on his face.

"Uh, hi," he said. Rose and Terra both mumbled their greetings.

"Uh…Terra. Would you mind taking a walk with me? There's some uh…stuff I need to talk to you about," Albus stammered.

"Sure," she replied, getting up and following him out of the common room.

Rose didn't know whether to feel relieved that Albus was finally dealing with it, or anxious about what he was going to say. Terra hadn't had time to react to her confession either before Albus had walked in to whisk her away.

She contemplated for a moment before bounding up to the seventh year boys' dormitory. Upon entering, she found Fred and James bent over pieces of parchment which she highly doubted were homework. They looked up when they saw her enter.

"Hey Rosie," Fred greeted.

"Hey, do you guys by any chance have any Extendable Ears?" she asked.

"Of course we do, always have a stash of everything from Uncle George's shop," James said, looking quite pleased about that fact.

"Why do you ask?" Fred said, giving her a curious look.

"No time to explain, but I need one right now!" she said, striding over to them and stretching out her hand, giving them both an expectant look.

"Rosie the goody-two-shoes is asking us, her best looking cousins and most intelligent pranksters, for something Aunt Hermione would never approve of?" James grinned.

"Look James," Rose said in an exasperated tone. "Just give it already. This concerns Albus's lifelong happiness!"

Ok so she may have been exaggerating it a little, but she needed them to give it to her quick so she could rush after Albus and Terra before she lost them. But she realised she made the mistake of telling them that part of it, because now they'd be even more intrigued and would want to know exactly what was going on with Albus.

"What's up with Albie?" James asked.

"Nothing, now gimme!" Rose said.

"Nuh uh, not till you tell us what's going on with Al," Fred grinned.

Rose sighed. "It's Al and Terra. They've gone off for a talk and –"

"And you wanna eavesdrop!" James cut in, looking gleeful as ever.

"What're you so happy about?" Rose narrowed her eyes at him.

"Just glad you didn't completely miss out on those Weasley personality traits Rosie," he replied.

"Are you gonna give me the Extendable Ears or not?" she asked impatiently.

"Of course, anything to help meddle in my little brother's life," James said, reaching under the bed and retrieving a large box. He opened it and rummaged for a while. Rose widened her eyes at the amount of jokes and tricks and products they had in there. It must literally be at least one of each of Uncle George's products.

Finally James whipped out the Extendable Ears. Rose was just about to make a grab for them when James held it out of reach.

"Hold on a second cuz," James said.

"What now?"

"We haven't made our deal yet," Fred replied.

"What do you want?" Rose sighed.

"The next time we ask you for a spell for our prank, you have to provide it," Fred said. "Simple as that, and you get the Extendable Ear."

Rose had no time to consider. "Ok fine, whatever you want."

James handed her the Extendable Ear and she rushed out of the Gryffindor common room in search of Albus and Terra.

Wandering around the corridors, she groaned as she realised with dismay how large the castle actually was. How was she to find two people in this huge place?

Walking along a row of empty classrooms, she finally heard familiar voices that definitely belonged to Albus and Terra. Pressing her ear up against the door, she confirmed that it was definitely them, although she could barely make out what they were saying. She was pretty sure she heard her name though.

Scrambling to her knees, she knelt at the door and slipped one end of the Extendable Ear through the gap beneath the door. And then a voice not coming from the Extendable Ear startled her.

"Eavesdropping Red? How very like you to poke your nose into other people's business."

* * *

**A/N: Hello! As usual, thanks for the reviews! This chapter is more concentrated on the Albus/Terra saga, so apologies for the lack of Rose/Scorpius moments here!**

**Leave a review please and thanks!**


	8. The One With The Broom Closet

"What're you doing here Malfoy?" Rose asked.

"I should be asking you that," Scorpius replied, eyeing her perched on the ground on all fours by the door, red hair hanging over her face as she concentrated on getting the Extendable Ear under the door.

"Terra and Al are in there," she stated simply, as if that explained everything.

Scorpius chuckled and strode over to her, lowering himself to the ground and sitting cross-legged in front of her.

"What exactly are you doing, Red?" he asked.

"Trying to listen to –shhh!"

She finally heard voices from the Extendable Ear. Scorpius gave an amused expression but said no more as they listened in on their best friends.

" –don't think it's very fair to you if I don't just come right out and say it…so…here goes," Albus's voice came drifting through the Extendable Ear.

"I think you're great and all, I mean, you're Rosie's best mate, and I love hanging out with you guys. But…well you've –I mean…" Albus struggled to find the right words.

"But I've always just been Rosie's best mate to you," Terra finished for him.

Rose could detect a hint of sadness in Terra's voice.

"Is it Sandra? Is she the reason –"

"Merlin, no! No, I've never fancied Sandra," Albus hurriedly dispelled the notion.

There was silence for a long while.

"Why aren't they saying anything," Rose said impatiently.

"Really, Red, you think eavesdropping on them is the best idea?" Scorpius said.

"I don't see you protesting much. You're doing the same, sitting here with me," Rose retorted, pressing her ear against the door in hopes of hearing something.

"Alright well, how about this, come to Hogsmeade with me next weekend," Terra said.

"Wh –what?"

Outside the classroom, Rose's eyes widened while Scorpius merely raised his eyebrows.

Albus was confused. Didn't he tell Terra he didn't think he fancied her? And here she was asking him out to Hogsmeade?

"I know I sound completely off my rocker here, but how 'bout it? Just one date. You don't lose anything, unless of course you already had someone in mind to go with…" Terra said hesistantly.

"No, no I don't. I was just gonna go with Scorp and hang out for a bit actually," he replied. "But…I don't understand. Why?"

Terra shrugged. "I don't want you to think I'm some sort of obsessed stalker or something, but I'd really like us to spend some time together, without Rosie there to facilitate the conversation. And after that if you still don't think it could ever work between us, I promise to drop it and let things go back to exactly the way they were before."

Albus stared at her, dumbfounded. She blushed under his gaze, replaying her own words in her head and thinking that he must believe her to be crazy. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she held her breath, waiting for his answer.

"Well, why not."

Terra looked up to see Albus smiling at her. And she smiled back.

"No! No no no no no," Rose mumbled outside the door.

"What's wrong with you?" Scorpius laughed.

"Didn't you hear them? They're going on a date!" Rose hissed at him.

"So?"

"_So_, you dim-witted fool! Al doesn't fancy her! She's just setting herself up to get hurt!" Rose glared.

"She's the one who asked him, Terra knows what she's getting herself into," Scorpius said nonchalantly, flicking his head to get his platinum blonde hair away from his eyes.

Rose muttered something that sounded like "dumb arse" but Scorpius couldn't quite catch it, neither did he know if she was referring to him or to Albus.

And then they heard Albus and Terra coming towards the door. The two of them scrambled to their feet, Rose yanking the Extendable Ear along. Glancing frantically up and down the corridor, she realised they had no time to make a break for the stairs and not get caught by their best mates eavesdropping. Before she could come up with a solution, Scorpius had grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her into the broom closet next to the classroom.

Scorpius had just shut the door to the broom closet behind him when Albus and Terra emerged from the classroom. They walked a distance down the corridor but seemed to have stopped and were continuing their conversation, though all Scorpius and Rose could hear now were muffled voices through the door.

Rose was busy trying to make out the conversation between Albus and Terra that it took her a moment to realise her back was pressed up against Scorpius's chest, and that they were forced to stand so close due to the very small size of this broom closet. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest against her as he breathed.

"Stop standing so close to me Malfoy!" she snapped, slamming her elbow into his ribs.

"Ow! Bloody hell, Red! And like I really have a choice," Scorpius growled, trying to shift and put more space between himself and Rose but to no avail, while wincing at the pain from Rose's attack.

"Go press yourself up against the wall instead of me you moron!"

"Oh yeah, because I really want to be standing so close to you," he replied sarcastically. "And really Red, does your hair have a life of its own or something?"

Scorpius pushed her wild curls away from his face and where it was tickling him under the chin. Rose ignored him and frowned as she barely made out Albus say something about meeting Terra at the carriages.

"We have to do something," she said, twisting herself around so that she was facing Scorpius, and then blinking in surprise when she found her face merely inches away from his. She leaned her head back instinctively at the sudden proximity and collided painfully with a mop behind her.

Scorpius stifled his laughter as she scowled, rubbing the spot on her head she had bumped.

"We don't have to do anything. Just let them be. They're not kids you know, they can handle their own relationship," he reasoned.

"Clearly you haven't had enough experience with a proper, full-functioning relationship with a girl to know when things aren't heading for 'happy ever after'," Rose said. "This is definitely not heading for 'happy ever after'."

Scorpius rolled his eyes at her. "So what're you gonna do? Continue stalking them and spy on their date?"

Rose raised her eyebrows at him and a slow grin spread on her face.

"Oh you're a genius!" she exclaimed, momentarily forgetting that it was Scorpius she was speaking to.

"You can't be serious," Scorpius said.

"It's the perfect plan! We follow them around in Hogsmeade and make sure they don't do anything that ruins their friendship!" Rose said excitedly.

"If you wanted to ask me out to Hogsmeade you could have just _said _something you know," he smirked. Rose glared at him and smacked him on the arm.

"I'm being serious here Malfoy!"

"I'm not sure you are," Scorpius frowned, a doubtful expression on his face. "I don't see how spying on them is going to help Red."

"If we don't keep tabs on them, how are we supposed to know how to fix the situation afterwards?" Rose said impatiently.

"I don't see why there's a need to fix –"

"I think they're gone," Rose interrupted, pressing her ear against the door again. There were no voices coming from outside anymore.

She pushed open the door to the broom closet and stumbled out with Scorpius, just as two third year girls rounded the corner into the corridor. For a moment the two girls stared wide-eyed at Scorpius and Rose. Rose groaned, knowing how this must look to them.

Scorpius was first to recover from the scene as he smirked and said to Rose, "Well that was fun Red, we should do it again some time."

Giving a wink to her, he whisked right past the fourth years and disappeared down a flight of stairs, leaving Rose gaping behind him.

"It's not what it looks like," Rose glared at the two girls, her cheeks flushing from anger and annoyance. The fourth years merely giggled and walked away.

* * *

"Terra, I really don't see how this is a good idea," Rose said, after Terra had told her about her date with Albus.

"How's he to know if he fancies me if he hasn't had a chance to spend time alone with me?" Terra replied, digging through the mess around her bed in search of something.

Rose sat on Terra's bed, frowning at her while trying to think of how to best dissuade her from this crazy idea.

"He's a bloke Terra, blokes are just…I just don't think this will end well for you," she said.

"Have a little faith in me will you? You don't think I can charm that cousin of yours?" Terra smiled, although Rose detected a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"But I –"

"Enough about me, what about you?" Terra said.

"What about me?" Rose repeated.

"What's this I hear about you emerging from a broom closet with Scorpius?" Terra grinned mischievously.

Rose rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe that rumour had actually spread.

"As if I'd be in a broom closet with Malfoy," she snorted derisively.

"So that's just a baseless rumour going around?" Terra raised her eyebrows.

"Of course! What would I be doing in a broom closet with him anyway," Rose replied, giving Terra an indignant look while trying not to give anything away in her facial expression.

"Ok….so what're your plans for Hogsmeade then? Since I'm going with Al now," Terra asked.

"Oh probably find one of the clan to hang out with in Hogsmeade. I'm sure either Dominique or Molly would be free," she said with a wave of her hand.

"Found them!" Terra emerged triumphantly from her mountain of parchment, books, clothes and quills with a pair of silver earrings. "Gonna wear these babies on my date with Al."

"Oh please, nothing you wear will impress Albus. If he fancied you, he'd have asked you out ages ago."

Sandra had appeared at the doorway, giving Terra a scathing look.

"And if he fancied you, he'd have asked you out ages ago too," Terra smiled fake sweetly back at her.

"Is it true _you_ asked him out?" Sandra asked. Terra ignored her and turned her back on her, busying herself with pretending to tidy her dresser.

"So it's true," Sandra said haughtily, looking slightly more gleeful now. "Are you really that desperate Jones?"

"Oh shut it Langton, my cousin _wants_ to go out with Terra, it doesn't matter who asked who," Rose said, standing up for her best friend. Terra smiled appreciatively at her.

Sandra gave a huge "humph" and stormed out of the dormitory.

"I really hope this works out…" Terra said, sinking into the bed beside Rose.

'_I hope so too…'_ Rose thought.

* * *

"Remind me again what the purpose of this was?" Scorpius said, as he and Rose sat in a dark corner of the Three Broomsticks.

"For the sake of Albus's and Terra's happiness," Rose replied, squinting at the two of them a few tables away.

The Three Broomsticks was crowded, as it usually was on a Hogsmeade weekend. Scorpius and Rose were seated at a table not too far from Albus and Terra, but far enough such that they would not be spotted easily by the two.

"I don't see why you would need me for this ridiculous operation of yours," Scorpius said. He honestly thought Rose was crazy for doing this, but at the same time, he thought it was amusing to watch her get her knickers in a knot.

Rose glanced at him for a moment and considered what he had just said.

"You're right, I actually don't need you here. I can do this on my own," she said. "Besides people will think we're mad if they see us together in Hogsmeade. I especially don't want to encourage those rumours that you started. You can go Malfoy."

"What rumours?"

"The one about us coming out of the broom closet!" she hissed at him.

"Ah, that rumour," he chuckled.

A bus boy walking by with a tray of empty mugs walked past their table at that moment, and tripping on his own feet, sent the mugs flying in the direction of their heads. Scorpius with his quick reflexes, whipped out his wand and levitated the mugs before they did any serious damage to their faces. Thankful that he hadn't caused a scene, the bus boy thanked him profusely before picking up the mugs and scurrying away.

"Well," Scorpius smirked. "Clearly you need me here, so I'm staying."

Rose narrowed her eyes at him, "What! I don't wanna be seen in Hogsmeade with you Malfoy!"

"I think a thank you is in order Red, those mugs almost smashed your head. If I weren't here to –"

"If you weren't here, I would have whipped out my own wand just a second later and prevented it from happening," Rose rebutted.

"Just a second later, you'd see your head bleeding and your nose facing a completely different direction," Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"But I –"

"Come on, they're leaving," Scorpius said, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her out of her chair as they followed Albus and Terra out of the Three Broomsticks.

Making sure to keep a safe distance behind them, they trudged through the snow and followed them into Honeydukes. It was difficult not to be spotted inside Honeydukes, but they managed to find a safe corner where they stood watching Albus and Terra sample some candy over the counter. Scorpius busied himself browsing the candy on the shelf while Rose ignored him and concentrated on trying to get close enough to hear what Terra and Albus were laughing about now.

She barely succeeded in getting closer when Albus happened to turn in her direction and she ducked back beside Scorpius, pulling her hood up to hide her red hair that she was sure Albus would spot in a minute.

"What're you doing?" Scorpius chortled.

"Trying not to get our covers blown," she said. "Al is looking this way!"

She reached out and grabbed Scorpius by the collar, forcing him to bend lower.

"Ow, Red!"

"Al is bound to spot you too if you don't even to attempt to hide that big head of yours," she glared at him.

"Relax, he didn't see us. They're leaving," Scorpius replied, nodding towards the door.

Rose loosened her grip on Scorpius and turned to see Terra and Albus leaving with a bag of candy in his hand.

"Come on," she said, as she hurried her way through the mass of students in Honeydukes and made her way for the door.

They continued to follow Terra and Albus for a while, and they seemed to be heading in the direction of the Shrieking Shack. When they were close to the shack and away from the crowded streets of Hogsmeade, Terra and Albus sat down on a rock. Rose and Scorpius took to hiding behind a large bush nearby.

"What're they doing?" Rose muttered, more to herself than as a question directed to Scorpius.

"Secluded spot, perfect for couples on a date. It's a classic spot if you wanna get any snogging done," Scorpius smirked.

Rose chose to ignore him as they continued to watch.

Snow was falling in small flakes on them, but Albus and Terra didn't seem to mind as they sat there eating their candy from Honeydukes and laughing about something. Rose shuddered from where she was crouching with Scorpius, pulling her coat tighter around herself. It didn't go unnoticed by him. He pulled off his coat, followed by his green Slytherin sweater, and thrusted it at her.

Rose stared at him in surprise.

"You need it more than I do," he said simply, tossing it over her shoulder as he replaced his coat on himself.

"Thanks," Rose muttered. Normally she would have thrown it back at him, but she really was feeling cold and thought this wouldn't be the best time to be stubborn.

Pulling his Slytherin sweater over her cotton shirt, she caught his scent in her nose. It was like the smell of a meadow with a hint of peppermint. Pushing these thoughts out of her mind, she wrapped her coat around herself once more.

Scorpius glanced at her and sniggered.

"What, Malfoy?" she glared at him.

"You look like a horrible Christmas theme," he smirked, gesturing at her red hair and his green sweater.

"Thanks a lot Malfoy," she snapped.

"Green's obviously not your colour," he continued.

"Oh shut it, you arse!" Rose said, giving him a shove.

"Again with the violence, Red!"

"That was hardly 'violent'," Rose snorted. "Or are you too much of a sissy pants to take it?"

"Me? Sissy pants? I'm the bloody Quidditch Capt –"

"Yeah yeah, Quidditch Captain, best looking guy in school, blah blah blah. Come up with something new will you?" she snapped.

"You think I'm the best looking guy in school?" Scorpius grinned. Rose glared at him.

Even if she did think that, she would never want to give him the satisfaction of knowing.

"I'm merely repeating what _you_ think of yourself in that egotistical brain of yours," she replied.

"Admit it, you think I'm good looking," Scorpius continued to tease.

"I think you're an _eyesore_ Malfoy, now shut it will you!" said Rose. She turned back to where Albus and Terra were sitting and realised with a start that they were no longer there.

"They're gone," she said in surprise. Then she turned to Scorpius and glared. "This is all your fault!"

"How is this my fault?" Scorpius asked, straightening up from behind the bush they were hiding at.

"You distracted me!" Rose replied.

Scorpius merely rolled his eyes at her.

* * *

They continued to bicker about whose fault it was all the way back to the castle. Rounding the corner at a second floor corridor, they caught sight of Terra and Albus at the far end and Rose grabbed Scorpius by the sleeve and pulled him behind the wall. Both of them peered over the corner at their friends.

They couldn't hear what they were saying, but they could see that Terra and Albus both had smiles on their faces. After a while, Albus leaned in and kissed Terra on the cheek, and they both made their way up the stairs in the direction of the Gryffindor tower.

"And you said this wasn't heading for 'happy ever after'," Scorpius smirked.

"Oh put a sock in it Malfoy," Rose said, but she was grinning as well.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry this took a little longer than previously to churn out. I'm having exams in uni right now so updates will come a little slow. I will try my best to get the next chapter out this weekend! As usual, please leave a review, thanks!**


	9. The One With The Fornication

"I still don't understand," Rose said, watching Terra rush about the dormitory, grabbing pieces of clothing off the floor and stuffing them into her overflowing trunk.

"I've told you a million times Rose," Terra sighed, trying to fit her scarves into her bag.

"But if the date went well, why hasn't he asked to see you at all after that?" Rose asked.

"Because he needs time to think about what he wants," said Terra, sitting on top of her trunk now in an attempt to close it.

"So he hasn't said anything at all?"

Rose was confused at the state of her cousin's relationship with Terra, who had gushed about their date the minute Rose had stepped into the dormitory that very night, making sure to do so very loudly so that Sandra could hear as well. But even though the date had gone well, Terra had told her that she and Albus had not discussed what it meant for them.

"No he hasn't," Terra said distractedly. "Could you give me a hand with this?"

"But you're leaving for the holidays! You won't see each other till term starts again!" Rose replied, walking over and taking out her wand to mutter a spell that made Terra's trunk fit all her items.

"Don't worry about us, it'll work out," Terra smiled. "Al just needs some time."

"And you're completely ok with this?"

"Sure I am," she replied, flashing a huge grin at Rose to prove it. "Now enough about me, _you've_ got the whole castle almost empty for the holidays, no need to hide in broom closets to do the unspeakable with Scorp, eh?"

Rose glared at her, "Once again, Malfoy and I detest each other."

"And why is it that you were wearing his Slytherin sweater that day again?" Terra raised her eyebrows.

"I told you," Rose said through gritted teeth. "He, being the clumsy oaf he is, spilt brown sauce on me in Hogsmeade so he was obliged to lend me his sweater."

"Right…so the two of you just _happened_ to be together in Hogsmeade," Terra sniggered.

"We ran into each other!"

"That's not what the rumour mill is churning out. Word is the two of you were enjoying butterbeers together in the Three Broomsticks, in a rather cosy corner too," said Terra.

"Sodding rumours," Rose muttered, watching Terra drag her trunk to the door.

"Alright, I'll let you off now cause I'm running late for the train. Goodness, I'd hate to imagine McGonagall's face if I even turn up a minute late. Have a good holiday Rosie!" Terra gave her a hug before leaning back to give her a mischievous look. "Remember to update me on everything that happens between you and Scorpius when I'm back. Write to me if it's anything juicy!"

Rose rolled her eyes, "Go before you really miss the train back home!"

Terra laughed as she waved goodbye to Rose and dragged her suitcase down the stairs.

Rose sighed and sat on the bed in the empty dormitory. Catching sight of the sleeve of Scorpius's Slytherin sweater peeking out from her dresser, she yanked it open and pulled it out. Stroking the soft material in her hands, she cursed silently.

"Blasted Slytherin…"

* * *

With most of the students gone for the holiday, the castle was indeed very empty. Rose spent most of her time either hanging out with the clan or reading by herself in her dormitory.

Most of the clan were in the Gryffindor common room drinking butterbeer and eating food that Fred and James had managed to knick from the kitchens. After joining them for a while, Rose decided that she had had enough of her relatives for a while. Hanging out with them the last couple of days took a lot of energy considering the crazy antics the Weasleys and Potters always got up to at family gatherings.

She sat curled up in her bed with one of her muggle novels, flipping through the pages almost in a bored manner when Lily came bounding into the room.

"Hey Rosie," she greeted, climbing onto Rose's bed and lying flat on her stomach beside Rose.

"Hey Lils, why aren't you down there with the rest?" Rose asked.

"Fred and James started interrogating me about who I'm dating right now, you know how that's like," Lily sighed.

"They're just concerned for you," Rose gave her a sympathetic look. James and Fred were relentless when it came to Lily's love life. Then again, Rose thought they could hardly be blamed considering the number of boyfriends Lily has had.

"Who are you dating now anyways?" Rose asked. "Is it still Simmons?"

"No," Lily wrinkled her nose. "We broke up weeks ago. He was boring. I'm actually not seeing anyone right now."

Rose nodded and didn't add anything. It wasn't surprising that Lily had broken things off with yet another boyfriend.

"Scorpius is kinda fit don't you think?" Lily said after a while.

"What? That arse of a Slytherin?" Rose snorted, shaking her head such that her curls swished around her face.

"Oh come on Rosie, all prejudice aside, you gotta admit he is goodlooking," Lily grinned.

"You fancy him?" Rose asked, squinting at her cousin.

"Nah, I think we're too alike in the dating department. If I dated him it'd be a competition of who would dump who first, considering both our track records," Lily laughed. "Although he has toned down a mighty lot this year. Haven't heard about him dating anyone new at all."

"Is that so?" Rose said in an uninterested tone, looking back at her novel.

Lily watched her cousin closely and smirked.

"Yeah, besides I reckon he fancies someone else," Lily said nonchalently.

"Who's the unlucky girl?" Rose muttered.

"Is that jealousy I hear?" Lily grinned. Rose looked up at her in surprise. And then she realised, Lily must have heard the rumours about her and Scorpius. Now that she thought about it, she realised she didn't know exactly what the rumours were.

"What exactly did you hear about Malfoy and I?" she asked, setting her book aside.

"That you guys were snogging in a broom closet, and you went on a date to Hogsmeade. People even say they saw you guys disappear into the Shrieking Shack together," Lily said.

Rose groaned and smacked her own forehead. She couldn't believe people would actually believe she'd go out with Scorpius Malfoy.

"Come on Lils, do you really believe all that?"

"So you weren't in a broom closet with him? And you didn't go to Hogsmeade with him?"

"Well I did do those things but –"

"Aha! So you do fancy him!" said Lily in a gleeful manner.

"I do not!" Rose retorted. "We did those things, but it was because of Al and Terra!"

"Al and Terra?" Lily repeated.

Rose nodded and explained the situation to Lily. She was appalled that her cousin could even fathom the idea of her and Scorpius together. Everyone knew they didn't get along!

"Well that explains a lot," Lily said, after Rose had told her the full story. "Doesn't explain why you guys have been acting different though."

"What do you mean 'different'?"

Lily shrugged. "The way the two of you interact."

"I don't see any difference. He still pisses me off and I still yell at him all the time. What's the difference?"

"The _sexual tension_," Lily smirked.

"What! That's absolute bollocks!" Rose scoffed.

"So you're telling me you don't find Scorp attractive at all?" asked Lily.

Rose knew that denying it would be a lie. She did find him so very attractive. But she tossed back her head stubbornly and said, "Not one bit."

"Ok…if you say so," said Lily.

* * *

Rose awoke on Christmas day to the sound of loud whooping from the Gryffindor common room.

"Oi Rosie! Get down here! The presents have arrived!" she heard James shouting from downstairs. She hurriedly got dressed and went down the stairs.

The whole clan was gathered in the common room, ripping parcels apart to reveal their Christmas presents from their parents and each other. Rose smiled as she joined them, picking up a parcel with her name and carefully tearing away the brown paper to reveal her navy Weasley sweater with a large 'R' on the front from Nana.

"Rosie," Fred groaned, fiddling with the present he had gotten from her. "Not another book!"

"This one you will like," Rose said with a knowing smile. He eyed her curiously as he tore open the wrapping to reveal a book on jokes and pranks.

"Wow, thanks! Compared to the book on magical plants and how to care for them you got me last year, this is a vast improvement!" Fred said, ruffling her hair.

After they had all opened their presents, Rose announced that she was heading to the library, resulting in multiple protests from her cousins.

"Oh come on Rose, it's Christmas day!" Albus said.

"We're all heading out for a snowball fight, we need you!" Lily added.

Rose just shook her head. "Sorry guys, I gotta work on that holiday homework Professor Longbottom assigned us for Herbology!"

Despite her cousins' attempts at making her stay, Rose gathered her books and headed off to the library.

It was peaceful and quiet, it being Christmas day. Only Rose Weasley would want to be in a library on Christmas day. She greeted the librarian and wished her a merry christmas, and was informed that the library would only be open till lunch time, so she had only about two hours or so.

Setting her books down on a table, she rummaged through her bag for her parchment and quill and set out to work. She had about over an hour of peaceful silence when she heard the library door opening. Rose was surprised that someone else would be in the library on Christmas day, and she looked up to see who it was. To her dismay, she saw none other than Scorpius Malfoy striding over towards her, Herbology book in hand as he smirked that devilish smirk.

"What're you doing here," she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Same as you," he replied, putting his book down on the table and settling himself into the seat next to her.

"It's Christmas day!" she said, thinking he musn't have realised.

"And there proves my theory that you're dull," said Scorpius, flipping open his textbook.

"What're you talking about?"

"You're in the library on Christmas day doing your Herbology homework while your cousins are out there having a snowball fight," Scorpius reasoned.

"Well so are you!"

"Yeah but only because Al told me you were here, and I couldn't let you get a headstart on that essay if I'm gonna beat you," he winked.

"Please, the only way you're gonna beat me at this essay is if you push me off the Astronomy tower and break both my arms so I can't write it," Rose snorted, dipping her quill into her ink as she continued writing.

"So you think you're better at Herbology?"

"I think we've been through this Malfoy. I'm better than you at everything," she replied smugly.

"I'm a better flyer," he grinned. "And a better swimmer."

She glared at him for reminding her of both the broom ride that night, and the fact that he had given her mouth to mouth just a month ago, incidents which she tried hard to erase from her memory.

"I'm better at things that actually _matter_," she retorted.

"I'm a better kisser," he smirked.

"Are not!" Rose flushed.

"Really? Care to prove it?" Scorpius said, leaning in close to her so suddenly that it caused her to jump involuntarily.

She pushed him away from her roughly as she stood up and headed over to the book shelves to search for a reference book. He chuckled as he followed her.

"Oh come on Red, it's not as if we haven't already –"

"_Don't_!" she hissed, turning around and jabbing her finger into his well-built chest. "That time you gave me mouth to mouth was _not_ a kiss!"

"And you aren't even the least bit curious about these legendary lips that the female population of Hogwarts has been talking about for years?" he said, as she turned her back on him again in search of her book.

"No, I think it's disgusting that those lips that have practically snogged the entire female population of Hogwarts even touched mine," she replied, spotting the book she wanted on the top shelf. She tip toed and tried to reach it, but much to her chagrin she was too short.

She was about to take out her wand to levitate the book down when Scorpius reached out and easily plucked the book off the shelf.

"Thanks I –" she reached out to take the book from him but he held it above his head and out of her reach. "Malfoy! Give it!"

"What makes you think I took it down for you? I need it for my essay too," he grinned.

She shoved him hard such that he stumbled back and hit the wall behind him.

"Oooh, so you like it rough eh Red?" he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Rose was livid at the sexual innuendo, and the nerve of him to even suggest anything of that nature between them. And she was angry he had stolen her book. She reached forward and grasped his collar, attempting to pull him down lower so she could reach the book he was still holding high above her. She shoved him back against the wall again while his hand circled her wrist where she was holding on to his collar. The two of them struggled against each other, his hand coming on her hip to try and push her away from him while he switched tactics and hid the book behind him, pressed between his back and the wall. Rose reached behind him, other hand still on his collar. Just as the thought of kneeing him in the groin crossed her mind, she paused, realising the position she and Scorpius were in right now. She pulled away slightly and stared at him. They were practically in an embrace, both breathing heavily now from their struggle.

And then Scorpius looked up and raised his eyebrows. Rose followed his gaze, and her eyes widened as she saw what he saw. They both looked back down at each other, dark grey eyes staring into her bright blue ones.

"Mistletoe," he murmured, the hand on her hip moving to the small of her back.

Rose felt her heart beating wildly as he leaned in. Scorpius's lips hovering mere centimetres away from hers. He smirked, about to close the gap between them, when suddenly they heard footsteps approaching.

"What is the meaning of this!" the librarian screeched.

Rose jumped a foot away from Scorpius and flushed from embarrassment.

"It may be Christmas day, but the library is not a place for you to…to…fornicate!" she screamed. "Out of my library you two!"

"But I –" Rose tried to explain but the librarian gave her a stern and disapproving look.

"Out! Now!"

The two of them stumbled out of the library and stood in the empty corridor for a moment, trying to comprehend exactly what had happened.

And then Rose rounded on Scorpius, punching him in the shoulder, though it hardly did any damage to him.

"_You!_ Never in all my years at Hogwarts have I ever been thrown out of the library! And then you come along and you…" she stammered as she tried to find the right words.

"Relax Red, so we got thrown out, big deal," he chuckled.

At that moment, Albus came along and grinned when he saw the two of them.

"Oh hey, I was just coming to the library to look for you two. Why aren't you in there?" he asked.

"Got thrown out," Scorpius shrugged, ignoring the death glare Rose was giving him.

"Thrown out? What for?" asked Albus in surprise.

"Well we were –" Scorpius was about to explain when Rose cut him off.

"Never you mind," she growled at Albus.

"Gee cuz, what's gotten you all riled up?" said Albus. And then he turned to Scorpius, "Did you do something to provoke her again?"

"Hey why is it always me?" Scorpius said innocently.

"Urgh! Stay away from me Malfoy!" Rose yelled, before she stormed off.

Scorpius tried to stifle his laughter as he watched her leave. Albus gave him a quizical look.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" he asked.

"Oh you know, one of our arguments again," Scorpius replied with a wave of his hand.

"I told you not to come look for her in the library. Something always happens when you and Rosie are together," Albus shook his head.

"It sure does…" Scorpius muttered, watching as the redhead disappeared round the corner at the end of the corridor.

* * *

**A/N: Hurray, hurray I managed to get this one out pretty quick! It's a good de-stresser to write this in the midst of studying for exams. Thanks for all the great reviews for the previous chapter! Leave one for this chapter too, thanks!**


	10. The One With The Midnight Kiss

_Dear Rose,_

_Merry Christmas! I know it was two days ago but I was busy so I didn't get to send an owl to you. Heard from Al you were being a bore on Christmas day, cooping yourself in the library and the Gryffindor tower. Although I did also hear you had company in the form of one Scorpius Malfoy! Al said you guys got thrown out of the library but Scorpius wouldn't tell him what for. Were you guys doing the dirty deed in there and got caught? Nothing like some good Christmas loving eh Rosie?_

_Alright I can imagine you glaring daggers at me, and you probably want to burn this letter right now, so enough about Scorp!_

_Albus was really sweet, he got me a beautiful bracelet with a sapphire charm on it. Said it reminded him of the colour of my eyes. How cute is he! I had no idea he was even planning on getting me something!_

_Anyway, hope you have a smashing good time at James's and Fred's New Year's Eve party! Wish I could be there, those two have got to throw the most wicked parties! Don't get too drunk Weasley, or you may find yourself snogging a certain blonde haired Slytherin at midnight!_

_Love,_

_Terra_

Rose sighed as she flopped down on her bed, Terra's letter still clutched in her hand. That incident in the library had been replaying in her head the last two days. Heck, she even _dreamt_ about it last night, and in her dream she and Scorpius actually kissed!

She woke up thinking how revolted she should be that she was dreaming about that sodding arse, but found herself surprisingly not offended by the idea of kissing him, even if it was just a dream.

Despite her best efforts to concentrate on her work and her reading, Rose found her mind wandering back to that moment under the mistletoe. She couldn't help but wonder if they would have kissed if the librarian hadn't interrupted them. And she wondered if she would have enjoyed it. After all, he wasn't lying when he said those pair of lips were famous among the girls in Hogwarts. He must really be good at it if the girls couldn't get enough.

Rose smacked herself on the forehead, not believing the thoughts running through the head right now, and the fact that she was thinking about him _again_.

She turned her face into her pillow and screamed out a muffled, "Graaarrghh."

"Oh look Freddy! Our Rosie seems to be having some sort of trouble!"

Rose lifted her head from her pillow to see Fred and James at the door.

"What're you guys doing here? And how did you get up here? Boys aren't allowed in girls' dormitories," she narrowed her eyes at them.

"We have our methods," Fred grinned, as he and James came over and sat down on the bed beside Rose's.

"Now would you like to share your heart's troubles with your lovely cousins?" James said.

Rose raised her eyebrows at them. "I hardly think you're the ones I'd share my troubles to."

"That really hurt Rosie," James said, clutching his chest where his heart was and wearing a look of sadness.

"Cut to the chase, what do you want?" Rose sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Straight to business then," Fred said. "We need a spell!"

"I'm not giving you any –"

"Uh uh cuz, remember the extendable ears? You promised," James said, tossing a cushion at her head.

"Fine," she muttered, remembering her deal with them. "What do you need?"

"Well we're preparing for the new year party," said Fred.

"Which is gonna be epic," James added.

"Which is gonna be epic," Fred nodded in agreement. "And we need a spell for fireworks. What's new year's without them right?"

"Aren't you guys always setting fireworks off in school?" Rose asked, recalling the numerous pranks that involved explosives and other such dangerous equipment.

"Yeah but we always do it old school, nick a bunch of firecrackers from my dad's joke shop and set them off in school. Problem is, Aunt Ginny wiped us clean of anything that explodes or 'has the potential to cause serious harm' over the summer so we didn't manage to bring anything that can set off fireworks big enough for new year's," Fred explained.

"Fine, I'll give you the spell, but not a word to my mum that I had anything to do with your crazy antics," Rose grumbled.

"Sure thing cuz!" James said, pretending to zip his lips up.

"Now you wanna tell us what you're so frustrated about?" Fred asked.

"No," she replied.

"Oh come on Rosie, we're like your favourite cousins!" James cooed. "You can tell us anything!"

"Al is my favourite cousin," Rose said, cocking her head to one side.

"Oh that's how it is huh? Playing favourites now? Come on Freddy, we don't need her!" James said, and then he and Fred mock stormed out of her dormitory,

Rose smiled and shook her head.

* * *

Scorpius stood at the side of the Astronomy tower where Fred and James were having their party. Most students had gone home for the holiday, but there were enough of them left in Hogwarts to still make this party as lively as it was right now.

Sipping his firewhisky while Albus talked to Hugo beside him, he glanced at his watch. It was 11.20pm, and she still wasn't here. He was beginning to wonder if she was even going to show up. They hadn't spoken since Christmas day and according to Albus she had been hiding in the Gryffindor tower the past few days, probably in an attempt to avoid him after that incident.

Scorpius could still remember the feel of her in his arms, her hot breath on his lips as he leaned down to kiss her. Granted she drove him crazy, but he wouldn't deny that she was very attractive. Despite all their squabbling over the past few years, he found himself enjoying his daily banter with her. It was like some sort of magnetic pull she had on him. That day under the mistletoe hadn't just happened in the heat of the moment. Scorpius knew he _wanted _to kiss Rose. It was like a forbidden fruit that barely a few boys in Hogwarts could claim to have tasted, and Scorpius Malfoy wanted it. It was like an itch that had to be scratched.

"Waiting for her?" Lily asked, sauntering up to Scorpius's side with a firewhisky in her hand.

"What?" Scorpius asked distractedly.

"You keep glancing at the door. You're wondering if she's gonna come aren't you?" Lily smirked at him. Scorpius frowned at her. He was the one to dole out that all knowing smirk to others, and here was this cheeky fourth year doing it to him!

"So is she coming?" he asked, seeing no reason to lie.

"She said she would earlier on. She'll be here. You know Rosie, studies first," Lily grinned.

"Oi Lily! No firewhisky for you!" James yelled, striding over and plucking the drink out of Lily's hand.

"If you didn't want people to consume it then why have it at your party," Lily glowered at him.

"It's for the more mature students. You're still a kid!" James said indignantly, proceeding to gulp down the firewhisky from the goblet he had stolen from Lily as he walked away. Lily hurried after him, a slew of swear words as she tried to wrestle the drink back.

Scorpius chuckled as he glanced at the door again. He stood a little straighter when he saw the person he had been looking out for the whole night.

There she was, long red curls cascading down her back as she looked around the room for a familiar face. She locked eyes with him and he smirked, lifting his goblet up to her. Rose glared at him in return.

She was still mad at him for attempting to kiss her. And she was mad at herself for allowing it to almost happen. But Albus was right there next to Scorpius, and she did want to talk to her cousin. With a sigh of irritance, she made her way over to them.

"Al, Hugo," she greeted, completely ignoring Scorpius.

"Rosie! I was beginning to think you wouldn't show up!" Albus said. Hugo mumbled something about going to talk to Lily and he left.

"Yeah well I finally finished that Herbology essay, so here I am," she announced.

"You can't ignore me forever you know," Scorpius said. Rose turned to him and gave him a look of disdain.

"I can if I try hard enough," she replied.

Albus looked from his cousin to his best friend.

"Any one of you gonna tell me what's going on? Or are you guys still insisting on keeping this big secret?" he said, waving his arms dramatically.

"It's nothing," Rose mumbled.

"Sure didn't seem like nothing when you were -" Scorpius grunted mid sentence as Rose pinched him hard on the arm.

"Shut it Malfoy!" Rose said.

"Alright, you two seem to have issues to resolve so I'm gonna go now," Albus rolled his eyes at them and walked away before Rose could protest.

After he had left, Rose turned back to Scorpius, who was still massaging the spot she had pinched him. She was about to turn on her heel and stride away when he caught her arm and yanked her back to his side.

"Let go of me you sodding prick!" she said angrily, struggling against his strong grip.

"Look Red, obviously we need to talk about what happened that day," he said in a calm manner, taking another gulp of his drink as he held on to her effortlessly.

"There's nothing to talk about, _you_ sexually harassed me!" Rose retorted. A few students nearby who overheard turned to them with interest. Scorpius grinned and rolled his eyes.

"That's what I get for giving her a night of pleasure, get called a sexual predator," he said in mock sorrow to the group of students.

"Malfoy!" Rose kicked him in the shin. He winced slightly but had no other reaction. Finally dislodging her arm from his grip, Rose grabbed him by his sleeve and dragged him across the room to the stairs leading to the top of the tower.

Disappearing up the stairs and away from the crowd of students, they found themselves at the topmost of the Astronomy tower. The sky was dark, but was dotted by numerous stars, and the moon hung at the side, it's pale glow casting shadows on the Hogwarts grounds below them.

"You really think coming up here alone with me after that debacle is the best idea?" Scorpius chuckled, walking over to the edge of the tower and leaning over the parapet.

Rose hadn't considered that much when she dragged him up here. Now that he mentioned it, she realised what it must look to the others downstairs. But it was too late. Plus he obviously wanted to talk about that day and she wasn't about to let him shoot his mouth off in front of the other students, though now the damage seemed to already be done.

"Alright, you wanna talk, so let's talk!" she huffed, striding over to him and folding her arms, tapping her foot to show her impatience.

"Look Red, _obviously_ you wanted to kiss me that –"

"What! I did _not_ want to kiss you Malfoy! You were the one who…who…had your hands all over me!" Rose retorted.

"So you're telling me that if we had kissed that day, it wouldn't have culminated in a wild, passionate snogging session in the Herbology section of the library?" he smirked, as if daring her to reply otherwise, telling her that he knew _exactly_ how she felt about that day.

Rose blushed furiously, annoyed that Scorpius could read her so well, and annoyed that her response to him that day betrayed her innermost thoughts.

'_Damn teenage hormones,'_ she thought to herself.

"Even if it did, it wouldn't have meant anything," she said, lifting her chin up high to preserve any shred of dignity left from what she was about to admit. "We're sixteen Malfoy, even if, _hypothetically_, you kissed me and I kissed you back, it would just be my body's natural response and nothing to do with the fact that it's you."

"Really?" Scorpius raised an eyebrow at her in amusement. "So what you're saying is that if any sixteen year old bloke kissed you now, you'd react exactly the same regardless of who it is?"

"Exactly," she insisted.

"So you're gonna remain till your deathbed that you are not attracted to me in any way at all?" he asked.

"Of course I'm not," she scoffed.

"That's too bad, cause I sure as hell am attracted to you," Scorpius said, in such an offhand manner, as if he were announcing the weather, or the score to the latest Quidditch match.

Rose blinked at him in surprise, caught completely off guard.

"Why?" she asked.

Now it was Scorpius's turn to be surprised. Did she not know just how pretty she was? That she turned heads wherever she went? That if she didn't have a reputation for not giving a toss about blokes and dating, and the fact that she hexed one of her dates in fourth year for trying to get to second base with her, she'd have lines of guys waiting to go out with her?

"Despite the fact that you're extremely annoying with your constant nagging and your goody goody, rule abiding character," Scorpius said, as Rose scowled at him. "You're gorgeous."

Rose was taken aback by the compliment from Scorpius. They were only ever known to throw insults at each other, and here he was confessing he was attracted to her, and telling her she was gorgeous!

"Of course, this whole attraction thing is purely physical, you're still an insufferable know it all who can't shut up," he smirked. Rose rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh please, as if I'd expect you to be capable of having any emotions that extend beyond your physical needs," she snorted.

At that moment, they heard James shouting from the party downstairs, "Alright everyone! We've got 15 seconds to go till the New Year!"

Scorpius set down his goblet on the parapet. She bit her lip, whether in anticipation of what was to come, or in nervousness, she didn't really know.

"10!"

The music had died down and everyone was waiting excitedly, watching the flashing numbers that Fred and James had made appear in the sky using the spell she had given them. Rose and Scorpius could see the numbers outside of the window.

"9!"

Scorpius was staring at her, almost curiously, as if trying to figure her out, or figure the situation out.

"8!"

All around below them there was commotion as people scrambled to find their partners.

"7!"

"Oh no way Malfoy, if you think I'm gonna let you kiss me, you're horribly mistaken," Rose said in a shaky voice.

"6!"

Rose took a tiny step back, but Scorpius caught her elbow.

"5!"

He pulled her back towards him.

"4!"

"Malfoy..." Rose started, but he pressed his thumb to her lips, tracing the curve of her lower lip.

"3!"

Scorpius shook his head.

"2!"

"Don't fight it Red..."

"1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

And his lips were on hers in a soft kiss, so gentle and so unlike what Rose had imagined kissing him would be like. She had heard about his wild snogging sessions with other girls in Hogwarts, but 'gentle' was not what the girls used to describe their snogfests with Scorpius Malfoy.

He had one hand lightly caressing her cheek, the other had a lock of her red curls between his fingers. And Rose couldn't help kissing him back, her hands resting on his shoulders. He ran a hand down her upper arm, working at her lips in an almost meticulous fashion. Rose tip toed as she pushed her mouth against his.

When they finally broke apart, Scorpius smirked and drawled, "And I'm sure that was just your body's 'natural response'."

* * *

**A/N: Hello hello! Finally they kiss! Anyway, I'm officially going on HIATUS until 31 May 2012. Sorry you guys, but uni exams are a killer and I really need to concentrate. Do keep this story on your 'alert' list, or check back at the end of May/ start of June for an update! Thanks for all the support, leave a review please!**


	11. The One With Gillyweed

Scorpius entered the library and scanned the occupied tables for any sign of a red headed sixth year. He smiled when he spotted her, hair tied up in a knot as she pored over her DADA textbook, making notes on a piece of parchment as she read. Term had started again and all the students had returned from the holidays.

He walked over to her, ignoring the curious stares from a few other students as he set his bag down beside her and took a seat. She glanced up in surprise and narrowed her eyes when she realised it was him.

"Avoiding me again Red?" he asked, as he retrieved his own DADA textbook, flipping it open to the same chapter she was currently reading.

"No, I've just been busy, that's all," she replied, shifting herself such that she had her back angled slightly towards him.

"Really? You were so conveniently busy after what happened at the -"

"That kiss meant nothing!" Rose whispered, turning around to glare at him again, and glancing around quickly to make sure no one around them heard her.

"Of course, I never thought it did. We were just satisfying our physical needs," Scorpius replied, as he dipped his quill into his ink and underlined a sentence in his textbook.

"_Your_ physical needs."

"Oh so that's how it is now? You're satisfying my physical needs?" he smirked. Rose's eyes turned to slits as she tried her best to hold in the urge to punch the smirk right off his face.

"What do you want Malfoy?" she asked, turning back to her book and parchment again.

"Nothing, I just came here to study, same as you," he replied nonchalently, turning a page of his book. The librarian walked past at that moment and squinted at them, obviously remembering the incident on Christmas day. Scorpius gave her a cheery grin as she walked away, still eying the two of them suspiciously, as if she expected them to pounce on each other and do the unspeakable in a full library.

"Couldn't you study at another table, preferably one at the other end of the library?" Rose said distractedly, glancing momentarily at the page Scorpius was on and realising he was a few pages ahead of her.

"It's the only seat available," Scorpius lied. The library was full, but there were at least a dozen more seats available scattered about, Rose knew that, but she found herself not protesting. Scorpius too chose not to add anything and they fell into silence as they both read their respective textbooks.

The only sounds the next forty-five minutes were that of the whispers of other students attempting to make conversation in the library, and the scraping of their quills against their parchments as Rose and Scorpius studied together.

Rose brushed the tip of her quill against her cheek as she read. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Scorpius turn another page. He was a quick reader, Rose observed. It took him half the time to get through a page than she did, and she knew he wasn't just doing so to spite her. She could tell he was actually studying, the way his brow furrowed slightly as he read in concentration, how he would scratch his chin when he came across something particularly difficult and took him more time to understand, and how occasionally he would flick his head to get his white blonde hair away from his eyes.

Scorpius could feel Rose's eyes on him as she watched him study, albeit subconsciously. He had to resist the urge to smirk and make a smart remark at her, because he knew she might get annoyed and leave, or never allow him to study with her again. He underlined the last sentence of the chapter and shut his book, leaning back against his chair and stretching as he yawned. Then he proceeded to pack his things into his bag.

"You're leaving?" Rose asked in surprise.

"Yeah, done with the chapter. And it's almost dinner time, I told Al I'd meet up with him before," Scorpius replied as he stood up.

"Oh," she replied.

"Why? You want me to stay?" he smirked.

"No," said Rose, her cheeks burning up slightly. "I'm glad you're leaving."

"Alright, whatever you say," Scorpius chuckled. "See you later Red."

Rose watched as he exited the library. A group of fifth year girls by the door giggled as he walked past and gave them a cursory nod. She was pretty sure one of the brunettes in that group had been Scorpius's snog buddy last year. Rose felt an urge to break that pretty girl's nose, the way she batted her eyelids at Scorpius. Shaking her head in surprise at her own thoughts, Rose turned back to her book.

* * *

"Hey Al!" Lily yelled across the corridor as she ran to catch up with her brother.

Albus turned around and waited as she jogged up to him.

"What's up Lils? If this is about you wanting a date with McLaggan from my Charms class…" he gave her a disapproving look.

"Oh please Al, I don't need you to help fix me up with anyone," Lily rolled her eyes. "Besides I'd hardly go to you even if I needed help."

"Alright, what's this about then?" he asked.

"I wanted to ask what you were planning to do about Terra," she said.

"Oh, well I was planning to ask her out…" Albus replied, grinning rather goofily at his sister.

"Yeah well, I just saw Randy Daniels heading up to the common room with a bunch of flowers in his hands, and he was telling his mates he was gonna ask Terra out to the next Hogsmeade trip!" Lily reported.

"What!" Albus started panicking. "He's not supposed to do that! What do I do? Tell me what to do!"

"Run you doofus, run! Get to her before he does! He was on the first floor, you might still beat him there!" Lily said.

"Right, I'll catch you later!" Albus broke off into a sprint in the direction of the Gryffindor common room, scrambling past groups of students and teachers and almost knocking over the Divination professor carrying her crystal ball.

Albus burst into the common room, tripping over a couple of first years near the portrait hole and landing on the ground with a thud. He scrambled to his feet and adjusted his glasses, scanning the room for Terra while trying to catch his breath. Spotting her by the fire giving him the same weird stare everyone else in the common room was giving him, he hesitated a little before stepping over to her.

"Hey," he said breathlessly.

"Just run a marathon Al?" she laughed. He smiled and then winced as he sat down next to her, hand clutching his side.

"You ok?" she asked, concern showing on her face.

"Yeah, uh, stitch," he mumbled, clearly embarrassed.

"What's up? You seem like you were in a hurry," Terra said, closing her book and putting it aside.

"Uh yeah, um. The thing is, I…uh…gillyweed!"

Terra stared at him confused. "What?"

"Um gotta go!" And then Albus sprinted up to the sixth year boy's dormitory, leaving Terra sitting in the common room wondering what had just transpired.

* * *

"Gillyweed," Scorpius said. Albus sighed and nodded.

"You said gillyweed?" Scorpius asked again.

"Scorp, no matter how many times you ask it's not gonna be a different answer," Albus glowered at his best friend as he doubled over in laughter.

"Sorry mate it's just…gillyweed!" Scorpius chuckled.

"You gotta help me Scorp! Rose is gonna be furious with me when she knows I screwed it up. Besides the whole Gryffindor house probably already thinks I'm a weirdo after last night. Half of them were listening in on our conversation!" Albus groaned.

"Come on, it's not like you've never asked a girl out before!" said Scorpius,

"Yeah but, it's different this time. I fancy Terra."

"You fancy her? Up till the moment Rose told you about her fancying you, she was just Red's best friend to you," he replied.

"Yeah well that was before the holidays and our date at Hogsmeade, and now I fancy her alright? We've been writing to each other over the whole of the holidays. She's perfect!" Albus retorted. "And did you just call my cousin 'Rose'?

"That is her name right?"

"But it's always either 'Red' or 'Weasley' with you," Albus said.

"I'll help you out, don't worry," Scorpius patted him on the shoulder, completely ignoring the bit about Rose.

* * *

Rose had just exited the library and was about to make her way back to the common room when someone called out her name from behind. She turned to see Lorcan Scamander walking towards her.

"Hey Lorcan," she greeted with a warm smile.

"Hey, how're you?" he asked.

"I'm great, you?"

"I'm good too," he nodded, running a hand through his hair. Rose could see Lysander lurking behind waiting for Lorcan.

Lorcan shuffled his feet for a while, a hand in his pocket. Rose gave him a quizzical look.

"Um Lorcan, did you stop me just to ask how I was?" she said.

"No, no of course not. I was wondering if you'd like to hang out some time, maybe study together or something?" he asked, grinning shyly at her. Rose blinked in astonishment. So it was true. Lorcan did fancy her.

Rose weighed the pros and cons in her head. Lorcan is a nice guy, and he is a family friend. They sorta grew up together. Even if they weren't the closest, they were on good terms. And she had always admired that he was the strong, silent type. Plus he was intelligent and played well at Quidditch.

And then there was that Slytherin…

Rose frowned. Why was she even considering Malfoy as a factor in her pro con list?

"If you don't want to I completely understand. I don't want you to feel obliged or anything," Lorcan muttered.

"No I'm sorry my mind was elsewhere," Rose shook her head. "Yeah I'd love to hang out some time."

"Really? That's great! Um, how about this weekend? We could study for that Transfiguration test next week," Lorcan said enthusiastically.

"Yeah sure," she replied, grinning at him. He gave a her a wave as he jogged back to where Lysander was waiting, and Rose watched as the two of them left. She chewed her lip, wondering if she had made the right decision and found her mind drifting back to one Scorpius Malfoy again, as well as a strange pang of guilt swimming inside of her.

_Oh sod it! It was just one kiss that didn't mean anything! It's not like Malfoy and I are dating!_

* * *

"He said gillyweed?" Rose asked, lying on her stomach on her bed as she hugged her pillow.

"Yup," Terra replied, munching on her fifth chocolate frog of the evening as she recounted the story to Rose. There was a litter of chocolate frog cards and wrappers on her bed.

"What did that mean?" said Rose.

"You tell me," Terra shrugged. "Anyway Randy came in with a bunch of flowers and all for me today."

"Oh," Rose raised her eyebrows. "And?"

"He asked me out on a date to Hogsmeade, and I said no. And I told him I couldn't go to the ball with him either," she replied, grabbing another chocolate frog and pulling the card out of the wrapper. "Oh look! It's Al's dad!"

Terra grinned as she flashed the chocolate frog card of Harry Potter at Rose. The Harry Potter in the card eyed Rose curiously, lightly touching his scar before disappearing from the frame. Rose must have seen a dozen of chocolate frog cards with Uncle Harry in it before, it had gotten pretty old.

"Did Randy ask you why? He's been asking me about you on our prefect duties and I always try to skirt around the issue," Rose said.

"I just told him he's not what I'm looking for right now. He was really nice about the whole thing and didn't probe much," said Terra.

"Speaking of being asked out on a date…I bumped into Lorcan just now," said Rose.

"Lorcan? He asked you out?" Terra's eyebrows shot up. "What did you say?"

"I said yes. It's not exactly a date…we're kinda just hanging out this weekend. You know, studying," Rose replied, trying not to make it a big deal when she knew Terra would blow it right out of proportion with her wild theories and conjectures again.

"How is that not a date! It is so totally a date! I told you he fancied you!" Terra grinned excitedly. And then her face fell. "Wait what about Scorp?"

"What about him?"

"How's he going to react when he knows you and Lorcan are going out?" she asked.

"What's it even got to do with him?" Rose frowned. Terra gave her a look that clearly said 'Do you really need me to spell it out for you?'

Rose sighed and rolled over on to her back, staring up at the ceiling as she replied, "Malfoy and I are just fr –mutual acquaintences of Al's."

"That's not what the rumours say," Terra replied.

"Well that's what _I_ say and I'm sure if you asked Malfoy he would concur with me, for once," Rose muttered.

"Alright, well it's your choice who you wanna date," said Terra, grabbing the pile of chocolate frog wrappers on the bed and dumping them into the bin.

"Right…" Rose mumbled, more to herself than to Terra, as her mind drifted off to a certain blonde Slytherin again.

* * *

**A/N: Surprise! Alright I know I said I was going to be on hiatus till the 31****st****, but I really couldn't resist putting this out there, plus I needed a little break from studying. The chapter is a little shorter than usual but hopefully you guys still think it's good! **

**Ok **_**now**_** I'm really on hiatus till probably June! If I don't get one out on the 31****st**** then the next one is probably gonna come in the second week of June. Sorry for the long wait you guys but I've got my summer holiday plans :D **

**Please review! I'd love to see some reviews after I came out of hiatus for this chapter!**


	12. The One with The Dinner Date

"Are you sure this will work?" Albus asked, a hesitant look upon his face.

"Trust me, it'll work," Scorpius assured confidently, waving the parchment in front of Albus's face.

Just then, Rose burst into the empty classroom that the two of them were in.

"Al! What was that whole 'gillyweed' thing with Terra? Lily told me you wanted to ask her out. I don't think 'gillyweed' is the best pick up line," Rose said exasperatedly, waving her hands in the air.

"You were right, she is upset with you about it," Scorpius chuckled, earning him a glare from Rose.

"Rosie, I was going to ask her out, but that whole 'gillyweed' thing just slipped out of my mouth! I was embarassed so I bolted!" Albus sulked.

Rose sighed and went over to sit beside Albus. "Alright so what're you gonna do now?"

"Well Scorp here has got a plan for me. I wanted it to be real special you know, when I…ask her to be my girlfriend," Albus mumbled the last part real softly as he grinned.

"You've got Mr Snog-every-female-in-Hogwarts here helping you plan a special way to ask Terra to be your girlfriend?" Rose snorted. "Please, I hardly think he'd have any experience in the romance department."

"And you would have so much more experience than me, Ms I-only-date-my-books?" Scorpius retorted.

Rose was about to snap back at him when Albus interupted, shoving the parchment under Rose's nose, "Look Rosie! Scorp's plan is actually not bad!"

Rose gave the two of them a doubtful look before snatching the parchment from Albus and reading through it. There were about eleven ideas written on it in point form, but most had been scratched out, leaving the one right at the bottom that Scorpius had circled and underlined:

_Broom ride over the lake at midnight. Quidditch pitch. Star gazing._

Her eyes widened as she read it before she turned to Scorpius and hissed, "You can't do this!"

He grinned innocently at her and said, "Why not?"

"Because this is what –" Rose clamped her mouth shut before she let it slip. Albus just stared at the two of them in confusion.

"Why can't I do this?" he asked, glancing between Scorpius and Rose.

Rose couldn't answer. Why couldn't Albus do this? Because she and Scorpius had done it first? Because Scorpius was giving away _their_ special evening to Albus as if it were nothing?

"You know why he can't do this Malfoy!" she said through gritted teeth, punching him in the shoulder.

"Is this another one of those things where neither of you are gonna tell me what's going on?" Albus sighed, furrowing his brows.

"I don't know, would you care to elaborate your reasons Red," Scorpius mused, enjoying the look on Rose's face as she resisted the urge to punch him.

"Malfoy, don't test my patience," she growled.

"Alright, alright…" Scorpius conceded, grinning at Rose. "I've got another plan."

"What is it?"

"Room of Requirement," he said simply.

"And what exactly am I supposed to require from that room?" Albus asked with eyebrows raised.

"You cook her a meal, and have a nice dinner in a private setting. Simple, not too elaborate, cosy. She'll like that," he said.

"Brilliant! Sounds good to me! What do you think Rosie?" Albus asked, turning to his cousin.

"I…well…that actually is a good idea," Rose admitted, as Scorpius grinned smugly at her. "I'm surprised you even have ideas like these, considering the way you treated your previous girlfriends."

"They weren't my girlfriends, and it's precisely because they weren't my girlfriends that I didn't need to pull such elaborate stunts."

Rose just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

* * *

It was the day of Terra's big date with Albus and it was 7pm, precisely half an hour before Terra was supposed to meet Albus at the Room of Requirement. Rose had agreed to go down there to see if what Albus and Scorpius had prepared was good enough, and also because she herself was excited and wanted a first glimpse of the special night Albus had in store for her best friend.

Entering the Room of Requirement, she gasped as she saw a cosy dining room of sorts where Albus had laid out the dish he had personally cooked. Rose silently thanked Nana Molly for teaching Albus to cook when she noticed he had a natural flair for food. There were small scented candles on the counter top and soft music in the background. Everything was as Scorpius had said, simple and cosy, yet elegant at the same time.

"Well?" Albus grinned, waving an arm at his surroundings.

"Oh this is beautiful! I'm so happy for you Albie!" Rose said, reaching over to hug her cousin and smothering him in the process.

"Ok relax Rosie, I'm just asking her to be my girlfriend, not proposing ok?" he struggled to get her mass of red curls away from his face. "And what did I say about calling me Albie!"

Scorpius stood to the side, bemused at the two of them.

"Ok you guys should go now, she's gonna come soon and I want to be ready," Albus said, ushering the two of them out of the room. "And no extendable ears Rosie! Fred and James told me about last time!"

Rose grinned sheepishly, "Alright, enjoy your date Al!"

Albus nodded as he shut the door, leaving Rose and Scorpius standing in an empty corridor.

Scorpius had his hands in his pockets as he smiled casually at her.

"Well, let's go," he said, turning on his heel and starting to walk.

"Where're you going Malfoy? The Great Hall is this way," Rose said, watching as Scorpius headed in the opposite direction she was pointing at.

He glanced back at her and said, "I know. I'm going to the kitchens."

He stopped and turned around, giving her and inquisitive stare. Rose didn't know why but she chose to walk towards him and away from everyone else having dinner in the Great Hall.

"Why're we heading to the kitchens when there's perfectly good dinner in the Great Hall right now?" she asked, falling in step beside him as they continued on their way to the kitchen.

He just smiled and shrugged, not providing any explanation. Rose didn't bother to probe. She didn't find the idea of having dinner with Scorpius Malfoy in the kitchen preposterous, and they fell into comfortable silence.

As they climbed through the portrait into the kitchen, house elves came rushing up to them, eager to serve.

"Mister Malfoy! Good to see you again!" one of the quipped, giving a bow to Scorpius.

"Hey Dewy! Could you get me some spaghetti please? And mash potatoes too," Scorpius greeted warmly.

"Of course, right away Mister Malfoy! And your lady friend?" Dewy asked, turning to Rose.

"Lady friend?" Rose wrinkled her nose. "How many girls have you brought here Malfoy?"

"He doesn't mean it that way," Scorpius replied, settling himself down on a chair that the other elves had pulled out, along with a table and another chair for Rose.

"Oh no miss, Mister Malfoy only ever comes with Mister Potter. Dewy is sorry if he has offended you miss," Dewy said, looking genuinely apologetic.

"No, no, I'm sorry. Call me Rose," she said, heading over to sit opposite Scorpius. "And I'll just have what he's having."

"Yes Miss Rose," Dewy bowed before the house elves all started busying themselves again.

"You know the house elf's name?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrows at Scorpius.

"Yeah, Al and I come down here often enough to know most of them," Scorpius shrugged, as if it was no big deal.

"Do you have house elves at home?" she asked.

"Sure I do, most pureblood families still have them," he replied. A look of distaste appeared on Rose's face and Scorpius noticed. "We don't mistreat them if that's what you think. In fact they get paid now under the new Ministry rule."

"I know, my Mum advocated for that. Sorry it's just a reflex, I've been brought up with all this knowledge about how house elves were treated in the past and it's just prejudice against the treatment I presume they get from pureblood families," Rose shook her head.

Scorpius nodded nonchalently, although Rose saw a dark look cross his face for a second.

"Malfoy, I didn't mean to insinuate anything about your family," she said.

"It's ok, I know my family history. I know that even today, after everything I've accomplished on my own to set myself apart from all that, people still talk. I can't beat it," Scorpius said solemnly. Rose felt her heart ache a little as Scorpius continued, "People always think I'm just like my father. Maybe I am…being in Slytherin and all. You know when I first came to Hogwarts, how much I wanted to be in Slytherin? Not because I wanted to be like my father or my grandfather, but because I wanted so much to prove to everyone that a Slytherin could be so much more. Perhaps after all, I'm not that much different. You thought I was just like my father back in first year. You said so. Maybe people still think that."

Rose found herself reaching out to grab Scorpius's hand as she gazed into his eyes and said firmly, "You're not your father Malfoy. You're in Slytherin because you're intelligent and you strive for your goals. You don't give up easily and you work hard to get what you want. Not because of some bloodline or whatnot. Sure you may be a prat sometimes," Rose smiled and rolled her eyes. "But you're a good person, and anyone who can't see that is an arse. You are Scorpius Malfoy, one of the best of the Slytherin lot, and you shouldn't let anyone else tell you otherwise. Not even me."

Scorpius glanced down at Rose's hand over his. He squeezed it appreciatively as he smiled at her.

"Thanks Red."

The moment ended as Dewy came bustling over with their food. Withdrawing their hands, they continued their dinner with their usual banter, that moment seemingly forgotten, but secretly tucked away inside both their hearts.

When Rose returned to her dormitory that night, Terra almost pouced on her, going through every detail of her night with Albus, making sure Sandra now knew that Albus was hers. Sandra ended up storming out of the dormitory in disbelief.

"Oh Rose it was absolutely magical! Even more magical than anything I can conjure in any of my classes here," Terra sighed. "I can't believe I'm dating Albus Potter!"

"I'm really happy for you guys but he's still my cousin so I'd appreciate if you keep the details of the two of you snogging in the Room of Requirement to a minimum," Rose wrinkled her nose.

Terra giggled as she continued her story about the night. Rose found her thoughts drifting to one Scorpius Malfoy as her best friend jabbered on. She smiled despite herself and lay back against her pillow, nodding occasionally to let Terra know she was listening.

* * *

Scorpius and Albus sat in the courtyard, Albus repeating once again the details of his night with Terra.

"Mate you've already told me the story twice. I really don't need to hear it a third time," Scorpius said.

"Sorry, I'm just really happy. At least I bother to tell you. When were you gonna tell me about your dinner date with Rosie in the kitchen?" he asked.

"What?" Scorpius looked amused. "It was not a date! How did you find out anyway?"

"Went there to grab some food between lessons this morning and Dewy told me you came in last night with a 'Miss Rose'. Since when did you and Rose start having dinner together alone?"

"It was just a one time thing," Scorpius brushed it off.

"You guys have been acting weird with each other since the start of sixth year."

Scorpius shrugged, "Don't know what you're talking about."

"I can't figure you guys out. And you two have all these secrets that neither of you wanna tell me about," Albus sulked.

"Alright, I'll tell you a secret. Did she tell you we kissed?" Scorpius smirked.

"Oh come on Scorp, that time you gave her mouth to mouth rescucitation does not count as a kiss," Albus said.

"I know that," Scorpius replied. Albus gave him a confused look while he just grinned at him, waiting for him to figure it out.

Albus's eyes widened. "No way...you're joking!"

"Nope," Scorpius replied, laughing at his best friend's reaction.

"When?"

"New year's eve party."

"But…how?"

"Wow, well I never thought I'd have to be the one to teach you, but ok. You see, when a guy and a girl kiss usually you have to lean in –"

Albus smacked his best friend on the head while Scorpius chuckled.

"I don't mean it like that you idiot!" he said. "I mean…you and Rose…how?"

Scorpius shrugged, "I don't know mate, it kinda just happened you know?"

"No I don't know! Rose can't stand you!"

"Yeah well, lately it's been kinda different I guess."

"So you're finally telling her you fancy her?"

"No! I don't _fancy _her," Scorpius looked at Albus as if he were crazy for suggesting it. "I don't _fancy_ people Al, you know it."

"What? But I thought you always had a thing for Rose?"

"What gave you that idea? Let me guess, it was my snogging of random girls over the past few years and Red hexing me every chance she got?" Scorpius said sarcastically.

"Well you were always giving her a hard time, I just thought maybe –"

"Al we're sixteen, not six. This isn't the whole 'I fancy you so I'm gonna pull your pigtails' rubbish," he said.

"Oh…" said Albus.

He had always thought it was exactly that. He knew Scorpius was never one for the mushy romance, and if Albus was terrible at expressing his feelings, Scorpius was certainly no better despite his cool and collected exterior. Although Albus had never asked, he always just assumed Scorpius fancied Rose but didn't know how to act on it.

Albus frowned at this latest revelation – that Scorpius did not actually fancy Rose. Then he smacked Scorpius on the head again.

"Ow! What the hell Albus!"

"You're toying with her feelings innit?" Albus said angrily.

"Come on Al, I think Rose knows me pretty well to know I didn't mean it that way. Besides do you really think Rose would spend her time worrying about whether I fancy her?"

"Yeah but what if she fancies _you_?"

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Are you hearing yourself mate?"

Albus contemplated for a while.

"I guess you're right…Rose couldn't possibly…" Albus stared at his best friend curiously. "So you definitely, one hundred percent, don't have any feelings for Rosie?"

"Nope. She just intrigues me, that's all. And she's a good kisser," Scorpius grinned.

"Ew alright, didn't need to know that last bit."

"Hey Al, hey Scorp," Hugo greeted as he walked past them.

"Where you heading Hugo? We got that game of wizard's chess you promised to play. I'll play you for 15 galleons this time!" Albus said.

"Another time maybe, I've gotta look for James, need some advice," Hugo replied.

"You're going to James for advice?" Albus asked in disbelief. "Are you sure you don't mean Fred? Or maybe even Rosie? Anyone can give better advice than my blockheaded brother."

"Maybe we could help you out little man," Scorpius said. He had always taken a liking to Hugo. Although he was just two years younger, he had that endearing quality about him that made you go 'Awww'. He wasn't the brightest kid around but he was a cool kid. Hugo's dad had always joked that he was like this because he frequently dropped him head first as a baby.

"No thanks, it isn't really your area of expertise, both of you," Hugo said.

"What is it?"

"Well it's Cathy Harris –"

"The one who hangs out with Lily and Roxy?" asked Albus.

"Yeah that's the one! I kinda wanna ask her to the traditional ball, but I don't know how."

"We could help you out with that," said Scorpius.

"No offence guys," Hugo gave them a look. "But you couldn't even ask Terra out on a date properly yourself," he said, pointing at Albus who gaped in response. And then Hugo pointed at Scorpius, "And everyone knows you've been a mess since you started fancying _my_ big sister and stopped dating other girls."

"I don't fancy –"

"Later you guys," Hugo waved as he walked away.

Scorpius turned to see Albus's 'I told you so' face grinning at him.

"What're you so smug about? I thought you didn't want me to fancy your cousin?"

"I never said that."

"Yeah well…Red and I will never be together."

* * *

**A/N: Hi everyone! Exams are over and summer is here! Thank you to everyone for bearing with me during my hiatus, and for all your patience in waiting for me to put out chapters. Mega thanks for the reviews the last chapter too!**

**Boy I'm really not making it easy for Rose and Scorpius huh haha. All you who are screaming at me to just let them get together already, I feel you man! Rose is a stubborn character, and Scorpius is a bit clueless when it comes to his emotions, so keep reading to see how this ends!**

**Leave a review!**


	13. The One Where Scorp Gets Mad

Rose stepped out into the courtyard, wrapping her scarf tighter around her neck as a gust of wind blew against her. Glancing around at the crowd of students, she spotted Albus with his arm around Terra, both of them chatting with Scorpius. Rose sighed and made her way over.

"Is this going to be a daily occurrence now? The four of us hanging out?" Rose wrinkled her nose.

"Is there a problem with that?" Albus asked innocently.

"Oh don't play dumb Al, you know I would rather ride on a broom than hang out with him," she shot a pointed look at Scorpius's direction, who just rolled his eyes in return.

"We didn't think you guys would mind that much considering the amount of time the two of you had been spending with each other," Terra grinned.

"We have _not_ been spending time together," Rose glared at her best friend.

"Sure you have," Albus retorted, smiling too gleefully about it than Rose or Scorpius would like.

"We –" Rose was about to argue back when she was cut off by Albus.

"Anyway, Terra and I were thinking of heading to the library together after Charms tomorrow to complete that essay for Potions. You guys wanna come with?"

"Sure," Scorpius shrugged nonchalently.

"I can't," Rose muttered.

"Why not?" Albus asked.

"She's got a date," Terra grinned.

"Terra!" Rose said, narrowing her eyes at her for revealing it.

"You have a date? With who?" Scorpius asked, his eyes narrowing.

"None of your business Malfoy," Rose replied.

It was her second study date with Lorcan after the one last weekend. It had gone alright in her opinion. She and Lorcan were comfortable, he was nice and friendly, not pushy or eager like other boys she had gone out with in the past. So she had agreed to another study date.

"You're dating someone? How come this is the first I'm hearing of it?" said Albus.

"I'm not dating anyone Al. This is just a second date," Rose said exasperatedly.

Scorpius's brow furrowed. This piece of news for some reason did not sit well with him. Rose was seeing someone. Albus meanwhile continued to probe.

"A second date? I never even knew you went on a first date! Is it someone I know?"

"Oh for Pete's sake Al," Rose threw her arms up in the air. "I'll see you guys later…"

Avoiding Albus's questions, Rose turned on her heel and walked away, breathing rapidly as she made her way back into the castle, Scorpius watching her back as she left. It wasn't that her date with Lorcan was some big secret, but she found that she didn't want Scorpius to know about it. And that was probably the reason she never told Albus about her date with Lorcan when she was pretty sure most of the clan knew by now. She had told Lily, who wasn't surprised that Lorcan was interested in her. And Fred and James had seen the two of them emerging from an empty classroom together. She was surprised the news hadn't reached Albus yet, but was secretly relieved she managed to drag this long before he found out. 'He' being Scorpius.

Rose shook her head and tried to dismiss the guilt gnawing inside of her.

"This has nothing to do with Malfoy," she muttered to herself.

* * *

"Why're you dating Lorcan if you fancy Scorpius?"

Rose shut her eyes, hoping to block Albus out as he continued to pry. They were in the Gryffindor common room and, as expected, Terra had filled Albus in, and probably Scorpius as well, on the details of Rose's date with Lorcan.

Albus had been questioning her for the past fifteen minutes as she sat by the fire trying to read a book. She had taken to either ignoring him or giving vague responses that did not satisfy him at all.

"Lorcan and I are not dating. And I do not fancy Malfoy!" she replied.

"So you fancy Lorcan?" Albus raised his eyebrows.

"I…I don't know. I could fancy him," Rose said thoughtfully.

"You could, but you don't."

"Well maybe not yet."

"But you fancy Scorpius."

"For the last time, I do not fancy Malfoy!" Rose hissed, glancing up from her book and glaring at Albus.

"Now I know why you've never had a boyfriend…" Albus muttered to himself, but Rose heard him.

"Excuse me? You've never had a girlfriend before Terra either! And no," Rose said, just as Albus was about to interupt, "holding hands with Lisa in first year does not make her your girlfriend. Besides, it's not like I've never dated anyone before, I just haven't been in a serious relationship."

"Exactly! So don't you think you might be lacking a little experience in this department to understand what's going on between you and Scorp?"

Rose snorted, "That's a little rich coming from someone who didn't notice for years that you had two girls falling all over the place whenever you entered the Gryffindor common room."

"That was in the past," Albus waved his hand. "I'm with Terra now," he said smugly.

Rose shook her head, "Never mind…anyway stop sticking your head into what's going on with Malfoy and I. We don't fancy each other, we just have…a civil relationship now."

"A civil relationship that involves snogging?"

"That was just one time! Oh I wish he didn't tell you, that stupid Malfoy, what was he thinking!" Rose exclaimed.

"Whatever you say Rose…"

* * *

Scorpius entered the library, where he was sure he would find her. Scanning the room quickly, he spotted her at a corner, her head buried in a Potions book. He heaved a momentary sigh of relief as he did not spot Lorcan Scamander anywhere near her. Striding over, he plonked himself down on the seat beside her, a little too aggresively perhaps, for she jumped a little before frowning and returning to her book.

Scorpius waited a few seconds but Rose did not seem inclined to say anything to him. Pulling out his Potions book as well, he said, "Your new boyfriend gonna be ok with me studying here with you?"

There was a hint of unhappiness in his tone but Rose brushed it off.

"Lorcan is not my boyfriend," she replied simply.

"But you're dating him," said Scorpius.

"We've only been on two dates, it's all casual," said Rose, feeling her cheeks heat up for some reason. Not embarrassment, more of loss as to the situation she was in, whatever it was, for she couldn't really figure it out herself.

"Why are you even dating that loser?" Scorpius whispered as the librarian walked past them.

"Lorcan is not a loser!" Rose whispered back, glaring at him. "He's a wonderful guy, a perfect gentleman."

Scorpius snorted derisively, "He plays Quidditch like a girl."

"He does not! I seem to recall Ravenclaw beat Slytherin last year," Rose reminded him.

"We'll see about that in the next Ravenclaw – Slytherin match," he replied darkly. Scorpius did not like his Quidditch skills, or his team belittled, and Rose knew that. She ignored him and he persisted, "So you fancy him or what?"

Rose gave an sigh of annoyance. This was a repeat of her whole conversation with Albus again.

"I told you Malfoy, it's all casual," she said.

"That doesn't answer the question. Do you, or do you not, fancy Scamander?" he asked pointedly, sharp grey eyes piercing her bright blue ones.

"I don't have to answer that," she tossed her hair back and turned away from him.

"So you don't fancy him?" Scorpius said, ignoring the hopefulness creeping in his voice.

"I never said that. I just said I don't have to answer your question," Rose replied.

"Just answer me damn it!" Scorpius said, grabbing her wrist and forcing her to turn and face him. Rose's eyes widened as a few students around them started to watch and whisper. Rose had rarely seen Scorpius lose his cool like that. He was always so calm and collected. But when she looked into his eyes, she didn't find anger like she had expected, she found confusion.

"Let go of me Malfoy," she said through gritted teeth.

Realising what he had done, he let go of her.

"What's it to you anyway, who I'm dating?" Rose sighed.

This question stumped Scorpius. He shot her an irritated look before slamming his Potions book shut, causing her to jump again.

"It's nothing to me. You do what you want Red," he said, standing up and causing his chair to scrape against the wooden floor loudly as he made his exit. Rose felt her insides churn as she watched him leave the library, students around them whispering as they concocted the latest news for the rumour mill: a Rose Scorpius fight in the library?

* * *

"So what's this I hear about a showdown between you and Scorp in the library yesterday?" asked Lily, as she bounded into the sixth year girl's dormitory and flopped onto Rose's bed beside her.

Rose sighed and put away her Potions essay that she had been proof reading. She knew someone was bound to ask her about that soon.

"It wasn't a showdown Lil, that's just another rumour gone out of hand."

"You do understand why people are so interested in what's going on between you and Scorp right?" Lily asked.

"No, I don't understand why they can't just leave us alone," Rose replied.

Lily sighed and shook her head, "Oh Rosie. Rosie, Rosie, Rosie."

Rose didn't like the tone her younger cousin was using on her, like she was an ignorant child that needed to be taught something.

"You didn't think nobody was gonna notice the two of you hanging out were you? You're Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy, Hogwarts has spent the past five years watching the two of you go at each other, and now the two of you are seen hanging out in the library or empty classrooms together more often than they see me walk out of a broom closet with a boy. You even hang out with him more than you do with Lorcan, whom you're supposedly dating," Lily said.

"Lorcan and I are not dating," Rose said, the reflex in her kicking in whenever someone mentioned her in the same sentence as Lorcan. "Besides, Malfoy and I haven't been hanging out much since he found out about me and Lorcan."

Lily detected a glimmer of sadness in Rose's voice as she revealed that fact.

"Why are you dating Lorcan anyway?" Lily asked. Rose groaned.

"Not again. Lily I've been asked this question too many times but too many people, can we just drop it?" she said.

"Ok, but my guess is you've been avoiding this question. Because you don't know why you're dating him," Lily said in an all knowing way.

Rose frowned at her, "You tell me then, since you obviously think you have the answer."

"Alright. You're dating him, because you're afraid of what you really feel," Lily said smugly, as if she just revealed the biggest clue of the puzzle. But Rose still stared at her confused.

"And what is it I really feel?"

"You fancy Scorpius, but you're afraid because you don't know if he feels the same way, and because you're so used to hating him all the time this new revelation scares you. So you're dating Lorcan in hopes of getting rid of these feelings for Scorpius which you think you shouldn't have," Lily explained.

Rose stared blankly at her for a minute, digesting this piece of information. And then she burst out laughing. She laughed so hard she rolled over on her bed. Lily just raised her eyebrows.

"That is the most hilarious and preposterous thing I've ever heard!" Rose said in between shouts of laughter.

"Suit yourself cuz, you'll figure it out soon enough," Lily rolled her eyes as she walked out of the dormitory.

Rose let her laughter subside as she lay back on her bed and thought of what Lily had said.

"No, I don't fancy Scorpius Malfoy," she said to herself with finality, before picking up her Potions essay again and pushing thoughts of Scorpius out of her mind.

* * *

It had been a week since Rose had last spoken Scorpius. This time round, she wasn't the one doing the avoiding. Besides their common classes, she barely saw him around. And he had fled with Albus right after every class. It wasn't as if Rose wanted to make any attempts at conversation, it was just that she was used to at least a few smart remarks or sarcastic banter between them every day.

She walked into Defence Against the Dark Arts with Terra and spotted Albus and Scorpius already there. The Professor gave instructions to partner up, and as expected, Terra hopped over to Albus and paired with him, ignoring the repercussions of her actions. Rose sighed, thinking it was finally time to face Scorpius.

Turning to him, she muttered, "Well I guess that leaves the two of us."

Much to her surprise, Scorpius gave her a cold look, before turning on his heel and striding over to another Slytherin. Rose stared at him in shock, but he avoided her gaze. Frowning, she too turned away and went in search of another partner.

She was about to confront Scorpius after the lesson, but he had walked away so quickly, not even waiting for Albus.

"Hey Malfoy! Hey!" Rose shouted, ignoring the stares she was getting from other students in the corridor.

"He's been like this for days now," Terra said, appearing at her side with Albus.

"What is up with him!" Rose said angrily.

"He's upset with you," Albus shrugged, staring at the ground.

"I don't see why he's mad at me! I've done nothing to provoke him and I thought we were finally beginning to be more civil to one another the past few months and out the blue he decides to throw a tantrum!"

Albus sighed exasperatedly at her. "You know Rosie, considering how you two are the brightest witch and wizard in our year, the two of you can be really daft sometimes. Come on even I've figured it out, shouldn't you?"

"Figured what out Al? I seriously have no idea what you're talking about and no one wants to tell me what's going on!"

"If I said anything, Scorp would kill me. Good luck cuz," Albus patted her on the shoulder and gave Terra a kiss on the cheek before walking away, shaking his head.

* * *

Albus entered the empty classroom where Scorpius was. He was just sitting there staring blankly at the wall in front of him. Albus sighed and settled himself down opposite his best friend.

"That was pretty harsh what you did to Rose back in Defence," Albus said.

"What do you mean?" Scorpius said, pretending to be innocent.

"Come on Scorp, you know what you did," said Albus.

"I didn't know Red and I were obliged to be partners in every class now that you and Terra are dating," he replied sarcastically.

"You're mad at Rose, don't take it out on me man!"

Scorpius's expression softened and he mumbled, "Sorry, haven't been having a good week."

"What exactly are you mad about mate?"

Indeed, what was he mad about? Scorpius tried to form a reasonable answer in his head. Because he had thought that kiss between him and Rose meant something? No that wasn't it, he had said so himself, he didn't fancy her. Because he was being gallant and thought Scamander wasn't worthy of Rose? No, Scamander had a good reputation and he and Rose had known each other even before Scorpius knew her. Because he was used to not having to compete with another guy for her attention? No, why would Scorpius Malfoy care for the attention of any girl, even if it was Rose Weasley.

"I don't know," Scorpius concluded.

* * *

**A/N: A thousand apologies for the late update! Been real busy, updates will be slow! But thanks plenty for the reviews the last chapter! Do leave a review for this one as well! Thanks!**


	14. The One Where They Get Locked Up

Rose stirred as she heard footsteps and whispers in her dormitory. She opened her eyes slightly, trying to adjust to the darkness as she stretched an arm over her head. She was pretty sure it was past 3am now.

"Ow! Bloody hell Terra, was that your Potions book I just stubbed my toe on?" came an angry whisper.

"Sorry!" Rose heard Terra whisper back.

"Come on guys!" a third voice called out.

Before she could even sit up to see who it was sneaking around her dormitory at this hour, someone had put a charm on her to disable her from speaking, as well as performed a very good limp body hex that made her feel weak all over.

Unable to protest, Rose felt a pillowcase being shoved over her head, obscuring her vision, as what felt like three pairs of hands grabbed her and heaved her over the shoulder of a fourth person.

She heard sniggering as her four assailants carried her out of the Gryffindor tower and through the castle. She soon came to recognise the voices as Terra, Albus, Fred and James.

She has no idea where they were heading and she was feeling rather cold as they had not allowed her to put on her robe before attacking her. She felt a bit of a blush creeping on her cheeks as she realised she was wearing Scorpius's Slytherin sweater that she had kept till now. It was right at the top of her wardrobe so it was the first thing she grabbed to sleep in that night.

Before she could fathom what was going on, she was dumped onto a cold hard floor and the jinxes put on her were removed. Yanking the pillowcase off her head and scrambling to her feet, she saw the four of them shutting the door behind them and the distinct turn of a lock, and Scorpius sulking as he leaned against the wall behind her, arms folded.

"Hey!" she shouted out, running to the door and banging on it.

"We're not gonna let you guys out till you talk things through!" came Terra's voice from the other side of the door.

"Terra! What are you doing!"

"You guys need to sort things out! Terra and I are used to how you guys usually are but this is getting out of hand," said Albus.

"Albus Severus Potter! You let us out this instant or I'll write to Aunt Ginny about this!" Rose yelled.

"Seriously, what the hell mate..." Scorpius said.

"Sorry Scorp, it's for the best!"

"Seriously you two, just admit you fancy the pants off each other and then we can get this over with," came Fred's voice.

"We do _not_ fancy each other," Rose said.

"Oooh, wrong answer cuz. Seems like we'll have to leave them here for the night," James said.

"Wait you –"

"Alright you two, no funny business in there ok?" Fred sniggered.

And with that Rose and Scorpius heard footsteps trailing down the stairs of the tower, away from her and Scorpius.

"Wait! Come back! You can't leave me here with him!" Rose continued to bang on the door but to no avail.

She turned to see Scorpius looking bored and nonchalant.

"We need a charm to unlock the door. And seeing as to how I don't have my wand with me..." Rose looked at Scorpius expectantly, but he only cocked his head to one side and stared at her curiously. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"You can perform the spell right? First you pick up your wand, then you flick it and say the –"

"Of course I can Weasley," he rolled his eyes, pushing her roughly out of his way. She scowled as she stumbled against the wall, trying to keep her balance. She knew he was mad at her, but was there really need to use such force?

"Alohomora," Scorpius mumbled, pointing his wand at the lock, but nothing happened. He shrugged, defeated, and walked to the other side of the tower and sat down. Rose stared at him in disbelief.

"That's it? Aren't you even gonna try some other spells? Maybe you weren't doing it right!" Rose said.

"Give it up, they aren't stupid, they probably put additional spells on that lock to prevent us from using a simple spell to get out." Scorpius replied.

Rose gave an exasperated sigh and sat down opposite Scorpius at the other side of the room. He had closed his eyes, as if he were sleeping, and they sat in silence for about fifteen minutes but what seemed like eternity to Rose. She certainly was not used to spending so long with Scorpius without speaking.

Her mind drifted to the last time she was up here with Scorpius. It was the new year's eve party just at the start of the month. She felt her stomach churn as she thought of the kiss they had shared that night. Shaking her head, she willed herself to remove these images of kissing Scorpius from her mind.

"Where's your wand? We can use it to conjure us some blankets considering we're probably spending the night here," she asked.

He opened his eyes, but she didn't get a reply. Instead, he was staring intently out of the window, bent on ignoring her.

"Have you forgotten or are you simply too stupid to answer?"

Rose saw the muscle at his jaw tense, but he remained silent. She rolled her eyes but decided to have some fun anyways.

"Oh dear, I see that you simply have a very bad memory. Very well, we shall have to help you find your wand then," she continued. Then she spoke in a very slow voice, as if speaking to a young child.

"You wand is this long thin stick like thing," she said, raising her index finger and thumb to emphasize the thinness. "You use it to do magic by flicking and swishing it, like this!" She demonstrated wild hand waving motions, and couldn't help the grin forming on her face. She was thoroughly enjoying herself while Scorpius's pale face was getting redder by the second. "Do you remember where you've last seen it?"

She thought she saw his lips twitch, but he didn't say anything.

"Merlin, you've really got it bad. You've forgotten that you can do magic haven't you? We shall have to start from the very beginning. This place," she said, gesturing to the room they were in, "is called Hogwarts. We study magic here. There're witches and wizards and –oh dear, I don't think you understand a word I'm saying do you?"

"Well you should at least remember your own name? Do you? It's Scorpius Malfoy. Come on, say it with me. Scor-pius. Mal-foy. It's really simple. Maybe it can help you remember –" she was cut short when Scorpius rose from where he was across the room and strode over to where she was. He bent down such that his face was inches from hers, and her breath caught in her throat. His silvery grey eyes gazed into her light blue ones as he said in a calm voice, "Don't test my patience Red."

Then he slumped against the wall beside her, resuming his gaze out the window. They fell back into silence again, Rose staring at the ground this time. He had sat down rather close to her and they could both feel the heat emanating from each other.

"Is that my sweater?" Scorpius broke the silence.

Rose looked up to see Scorpius glancing down at the sweater she was wearing. Again a blush crept up on her cheeks, but it was dark so Scorpius couldn't see.

"Um, yeah I meant to return it to you…" she mumbled, fingering the hem of the sweater.

"Keep it, looks good on you," he replied, looking away.

"I don't need it Malfoy," Rose insisted.

"Yeah I suppose you'd rather wear the Ravenclaw sweater now wouldn't you," he said bitterly.

"What are you talking about Malfoy? And I don't get what this whole thing is about," Rose gestured to the space between them. "What exactly are you mad about?"

It was the same question Albus had posed to him, and Scorpius sighed as he gave the same answer, "I don't know."

"Lorcan and I are just casual," Rose felt a need to reiterate that.

"But I don't understand why you're dating him in the first place," Scorpius said.

"He's a nice guy," Rose shrugged.

"He's not suitable for you," Scorpius replied.

"And I suppose you would know who is most suitable for me?" she snorted.

"I'm just saying he's not right for you."

"Why can't you just lay off Malfoy, who I date has nothing to do with you," she said. "You have no right to give me advice anyways, you're not my friend, and neither do I care for your opinion, and given your dating history I doubt you are in any place to tell me who I should or should not date!"

"You always have to ruin it don't you? Whenever I'm trying to be serious with you," he said angrily.

"What are you –"

"Merlin sometimes I wish you could stop being such a self centred know it all and just shut up for a minute to realise what is right in front of you!"

Rose gaped at him for a minute while he glared back at her.

"Jerk!"

"Moron."

"Asshole!"

"Idiot."

"Prat!"

"Stupid."

Then Rose smirked.

"_Scorpina_."

Scorpius turned a delicate shade of pink. Rose grinned at her triumph, but boy was she not prepared for what happened next. Scorpius grabbed her by the back of her head and pulled her towards him, crashing his lips onto hers. The kiss was urgent and rough. Rose tried to push him away, but Scorpius was much stronger and held her firmly. Rose was angry. Very angry. How dare this arrogant brat kiss her now! But more importantly, why the hell was she kissing him back!

Her brain felt fuzzy and she couldn't think straight anymore. All she knew was that the Astronomy Tower was suddenly becoming very hot. And the kiss was becoming softer, gentler. No longer was Scorpius holding a firm grip at the back of her head, instead his fingers had started to play with her soft red curls, and his other hand seemed to have found its way around her waist, pulling her onto his lap.

Rose's hand rested on his chest, feeling the fast beating of his heart. Her other arm circled around his neck, pulling him closer to her. Her fingers traced his jaw line, caressing his face. She ran a hand through his sleek blonde hair. His arm around her waist tightened and he pulled her, if possible, even closer towards him.

Everything in Rose's mind was screaming for her to stop, but her body rejected the commands of her logic and common sense. She was waging war against herself there, wanting to pull away yet needing to cling on.

Then as if rationality had hit Scorpius as well, he broke away, staring accusingly into Rose's eyes, as if it were her fault. She hastily pushed herself off him and scurried further away from him. They both glared at each other for a while, both not knowing what to say.

There was no denying what was going on in both their minds that very moment.

_That was one hell of a snog._

Rose was the first to recover from the shock, after she and Scorpius had sat there glaring daggers at one another for a full minute or two.

"What is bloody wrong with you Malfoy!" she snapped.

"Me? Well I seem to recall you were the one calling me names first!" he growled.

"Yes but you didn't have to –to –kiss me," Rose yelled.

"I think we're forgetting one tiny detail Weasley. You kissed me back," he narrowed his eyes at her. Rose turned so red that it almost matched the colour of her hair.

"Well –that's hardly the point here!" she replied, tossing her hair.

Scorpius shook his head, "They're right, we need to fix this."

"And how do you propose we do that?"

He looked into her eyes again with such intensity that Rose recoiled a little.

"Tell me, what am I to you?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, am I just Al's best mate to you? Or the Slytherin that you loathe so much? Or someone who's just around for you to bicker with? What is it Red?" said Scorpius, licking his lips as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I –I don't know," she said.

"Things are different this year, everyone knows it, we both know it. We just don't know what exactly it is," Scorpius said softly. Rose knew he was right. Things were definitely different between them. She kept silent, unsure of how to reply him.

"Don't deny it. You _enjoy_ talking to me, because I'm about the only intellectual equal you have among the sixth years. You just insist on sticking to our old ways because you don't wanna admit you _like_ hanging out with me."

Rose hated to admit it, but she knew he was right. She had grown accustomed to his presence around her the last few months. As much as they still bickered over the silliest things, they had developed a rapport over the past few years that had only grown stronger the last few months. He was the only one who challenged her, and made her life more interesting beyond her books and spells in Hogwarts. And somehow she found that she never really did detest him, they just never gave each other a chance.

"Alright fine. How about a truce then?" she said, sucking in a deep breath.

Scorpius seemed to consider this for a while, scratching his knee absentmindedly as his brow furrowed.

"So…truce means that we're friends?" he asked.

Rose nodded. There was another round of silence for a bit as Scorpius pondered again.

"Ok," he finally said. "Truce."

He sidled over closer to her and held out his hand. Rose stared at his outstretched hand for a while before reaching out herself and fitting her palm into his, their fingers curling around each other's hands in a handshake, symbolising the beginning of what they thought was a friendship between Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy.

* * *

"We put you guys in there for a night and the conclusion you came to was that you guys are _friends?" _Terra practically screamed into Rose's ear in the Great Hall at breakfast the next morning.

The four of them had come to release Rose and Scorpius from the Astronomy tower just two hours before breakfast, and found them curled up in each others' arms asleep. Neither of them had remembered falling asleep in that position. After the truce was established, they had resumed they usual banter and conversation as if nothing had transpired between them.

Both had refused to say anything to their four assailants as they trudged out of the tower and back to their dormitories for an hour or so of sleep before breakfast. Now that they were in the Great Hall, Terra and Albus were probing again and Rose had only revealed she and Scorpius were now friends.

"Please don't shout Terra," Rose said distractedly as she buttered her toast.

"Rosie, the whole point of last night was so you guys could fix what was going on between you two," Albus groaned. Scorpius was still in bed apparently and was nowhere to be seen in the Great Hall.

"And we did fix it Al! We're friends now, isn't that what you always wanted?" said Rose, staring at her cousin in confusion.

"Yeah but…" Albus struggled to find the right way to put it across to Rose. He glanced at Terra, as if asking for help, but she shrugged in return.

Albus sighed and returned to his cereal, exasperated once again at the turn of events between his best friend and his cousin.

* * *

**A/N: I feel like I am always apologising for the late updates, but apologies are due. I am sorry! Summer has been a whirl so far. As I may have said earlier, updates will be slow, but thank you thank you thank you for the continuous support you all have shown me! Keep the reviews coming, they're much appreciated! Thanks!**

**ALSO, I know I know the question in everyone's mind: WHY ARE SCORP AND ROSE STILL NOT FIGURING IT OUT YET? They'll get there eventually ;)**


	15. The One With Roses For My Rose

February came along and winter showed no signs of departing any time soon. The snow had relented slightly but it was still ridiculously cold. Scorpius tugged at his scarf as he made his way through the corridor. Spotting a flash of red hair in front of him, he squinted to make sure he had seen the right Weasley before jogging to catch up with her.

"Hey Red!" he called out. Rose turned and gave a tiny smile as she paused to wait for him. He fell in step beside her and they continued walking.

"So you're seriously spending Valentine's day with Scamander?" asked Scorpius.

"Yup," came her reply. He scowled.

"So what, he's like your boyfriend now?"

"No, he hasn't asked me yet. It's all just casual," said Rose, adjusting the weight of the two books she was carrying between her arms.

"Scamander isn't right for you Red."

"And who are you to say anything about who's right for me?" Rose snorted.

"I'm your friend. And as your friend I'm telling you this thing with Scamander isn't gonna work out. I'm willing to bet you won't last through this Valentine's date with him," Scorpius declared.

"You know I'm beginning to regret this whole 'friends' thing with you Malfoy," Rose narrowed her eyes at him.

"You don't think he's right for you either, do you," Scorpius smirked, nudging her.

"On the contrary I think it's going rather well between me and Lorcan," she replied.

"Liar."

"Malfoy you have no say in who I date so just stuff it will you?" Rose sighed, almost stumbling as another student bumped into her.

Rose was beginning to find this conversation all too repetitive. She seemed to recall having it with Scorpius ever so often that it gave her a sense of déjà vu everytime they went through the same routine again.

"Fine, well I'll be in the library on Valentine's day if you need me," he said.

She looked up at him in surprise. "You don't have a date?"

"Nope. Decided to skip the hassle of picking out a girl this year. Gotta catch up with my work," Scorpius gave her a mock salute as he walked away.

Rose stared at his retreating back for a while, digesting this piece of news, before continuing on her way.

* * *

The Valentine's day Hogsmeade trip rolled around so quickly. Scorpius was beginning to find the usual gaggle of giggling girls and perfume and enchanted floating hearts all too nauseating, especially since Rose was going on a date with Lorcan bloody Scamander.

He was making his way to the library, Potions book in hand, dodging the students with lovesick looks on their faces, praying he never ever one day looked like them. He'd been avoiding Albus as well, who had been fretting for weeks on what was the perfect gift for his first Valentine's day with Terra. Albus had been bugging him all of last night on which shirt he should wear today and Scorpius was getting tired of all the Valentine's day drama since he had intended to spend a quiet one by himself this year. Albus too had given up persuading him to ask out Verene Scofield from fifth year, who was apparently 'a great girl' and had been eyeing him for months now.

Rounding the corner on the sixth floor, Scorpius caught sight of Lorcan Scamander emerging from a broom cupboard. He quickly dodged back around the corner, leaning against the wall as he heard giggling. Shutting his eyes for a moment, he thought he might be sick if he saw that Rose was the girl Lorcan had been in the broom cupboard with. But peeping around the corner, what he saw made him even more disgusted. Another fifth year whose name Scorpius could not remember had her back against the wall, and Scamander was kissing her neck.

"I'll see you tomorrow," the girl said in a husky voice, straightening out her dress before giving Scamander a wink and walking a way.

Lorcan nodded, pressing down the creases on his own shirt while grinning at the girl. Scorpius had half a mind to walk over and punch him right now. How dare he fool around with another girl right before his date with Rose!

Lorcan glanced around before walking away, probably to look for Rose right now. Scorpius balled his fists up, leaning against the wall and shutting his eyes before turning around and punching it, imagining Lorcan's face right there as his fist made contact with the bricks. He ignored the searing pain in my hand as he took in a deep breath.

_What now?_

* * *

"…and when little Suzie came back up everyone was just rolling over with laughter!" Lorcan finished.

Rose smiled serenely at him. She had not really been listening to him. He was telling a funny story about a relative of his and he glanced quizzicaly at her, as if expecting a different response. Rose forced a polite laughter and Lorcan relaxed, seemingly agreeable with her response.

They were in the Three Broomsticks drinking butterbeer. It was fairly crowded, mostly littered with students who had chosen to spend Valentine's day with their friends. Most couples had probably ended up at Madam Puddifoot's. Rose detested that place though, and had redirected Lorcan to the Three Broomsticks instead when he suggested it.

Rose let her eyes wander around the room, her gaze landing on the bus boy who had almost smashed mugs on her and Scorpius when they were in Hogsmeade together the last time. She felt the corners of her mouth twitch as she recalled that memory.

"Rose?" Lorcan shook her arm.

"Huh?" she said, turning back to face him. He had asked her a question but she didn't know what it was.

"I was just asking if you were alright, you seem a little dazed today, perhaps you're not feeling too well?" he asked, a look of concern etched on his face, though masked with a hint of annoyance at her seeming uninterest in whatever he was saying.

"No, I'm sorry, just a little distracted," she murmured.

"Alright, well how about we head to Honeydukes for some candy? My treat," Lorcan grinned at her. She nodded and took the arm he offered her as they stood up and made their way out of the Three Broomsticks.

Making their way towards Honeydukes, Lorcan suddenly stopped her. He smiled as he said, "Wait here for me, I'll just be a minute!" He had a gleam of triumph in his eye, as if he just thought of something ingenious.

Lorcan weaved through throngs of students before disappearing into a florist. Rose stuffed her hands into her pockets and sighed. She watched pairs of Hogwarts students walk past her, all with huge smiles on their faces. Some of them were holding hands, others had their faces ducked close together as they whispered and giggled. None looked as bored as Rose was.

She thought of hiding from Albus and Terra in Honeydukes with Scorpius, and the corners of her mouth twitched.

"My dear, you look like you need something to spruce up your Valentine's day!"

Turning around, she found an old lady with little bottles of potion dangling around her neck.

"Oh, no thank you," Rose declined, smiling politely at her.

"Really? Not even one of my finest brew of Amortentia?" the lady wriggled her eyebrows, uncapping one of her bottles and practically shoving it in Rose's face.

Rose shook her head firmly, pushing the bottle away from her. The lady shrugged and walked away, but not before Rose caught a whiff of the smell of meadow, with a hint of peppermint.

"Hey, who was that?"

Rose spun around again, only to be greeted by a giant bouquet of flowers – red roses to be exact.

"Um…just some lady selling Amortentia. What's this?" Rose raised her eyebrows. Lorcan grinned and thrust the flowers towards her.

"Happy Valentine's day Rose," he said.

* * *

Scorpius scratched his head absentmindedly as he scribbled another line on his parchment. The library was quiet and relatively empty. It was mostly first and second years in here, and the girls who had tried to stay back in the castle and stalk him on Valentine's day were no longer hanging around the bookshelves giggling when he glanced up at them. He supposed the librarian must have thrown them out.

Just then, the library doors swung open and he looked up to see Rose Weasley enter, still dressed in her outfit from her date with Lorcan Scamander, a tinge of make up on her face making her look even more stunning than usual. She had her Potions book in her hand, which she slammed down on the table as she sat down opposite him. Rose busied herself with taking out her ink, quill and parchment as Scorpius smirked at her.

She had ditched Scamander. He had won. But he was wise not to gloat about it. Not yet anyways.

"So what happened?" he asked casually. Rose looked up at him, as if daring him to say 'I told you so'.

"He gave me roses," she replied.

"Ah, rookie mistake," Scorpius replied.

"It gets worse. There was a card to go with it," Rose sighed, flipping open her Potions textbook to the same page as him.

"What did it say?"

"Roses for my Rose."

Scorpius let out a shout of laughter, which earned him a loud 'shush' from the librarian.

"So you just upped and left?" he asked.

"Told him it wasn't gonna work out between us," said Rose nonchalently.

"And how did he take it?"

"He didn't really have a chance to respond. I said my piece and I bolted," Rose shrugged, a slight blush creeping on her cheeks at the recollection of her own actions.

Scorpius nodded, a hint of a smile on his face, but he said nothing more. Rose was surprised. She had expected him to jest, to gloat that he had been right all along, that he had won his bet, but he did none of the above. He just went right back to reading his Potions book.

And now, Scorpius thought, there was no need to tell her about Scamander and the girl this afternoon. He and Rose were finally over.

They continued studying in concentrated silence for about half an hour before Scorpius shut his book and glanced at the clock. The rest of the students would return from Hogsmeade soon. He reached over and shut Rose's book. She raised her eyebrows in surprise and then gave him an annoyed look.

"What, Malfoy?" she asked.

"Come on, there's some place I wanna go," Scorpius replied, shoving his textbook and parchment into his bag as he stood up.

Rose gave him a curious look but did not question any further as she followed suit, packing up her things and following him out of the library.

Ten minutes later, they were sitting in the kitchen with an assortment of chocolate before them. Scorpius was peeling the tin foil wrapping off a piece of chocolate with as much concentration as a young boy discovering a new toy. Frankly, Rose thought it was slightly adorable, but she pushed those thoughts out of her mind.

"You brought me to the kitchen so you could feast on chocolate?" she grumbled.

"Hey, what's Valentine's day without chocolate right?" he grinned, tossing her a piece before shoving one into his mouth.

"We didn't have to come to the kitchens for this! I'm sure you have plenty of chocolates from your numerous admirers," Rose rolled her eyes. But she obliged and popped the chocolate into her mouth – milk chocolate with caramel filling.

"Pretty sure some of them are rigged with Amortentia, don't have the guts to try any of them," Scorpius shrugged. His platinum blonde hair flopped over his eyes as he picked out another piece of chocolate, examining its wrapping before working on peeling it off again. Rose had an urge to reach out to brush those strands of blonde hair away from his eyes, and she clenched her fists tightly to stop herself.

"Girls actually try to drug you with Amortentia? Merlin these Hogwarts girls just don't quit when it comes to you, do they?" Rose said, bewildered that they would actually go to that extent for Scorpius.

"Hey, comes with the territory," he smirked.

"What territory?" she narrowed her eyes at him, sure that he was going to give her some smug reply.

"It's just this way when you're me," he grinned. She rolled her eyes, but found herself smiling anyways.

"I don't get what the big deal about Valentine's day is anyway, it's just a waste of money as I see it," Scorpius continued. "All these flowers and chocolates and gifts, Merlin the jackass who came up with Valentine's day must really hate men."

"What! Men aren't the only ones who spend effort and time and money on Valentine's day, girls too! As evidenced by the numerous gifts _you_ receive from your admirers!" Rose retorted, appalled that he could trivialise this occasion which she secretly harboured quite an affection for. "Besides, Valentine's day is a celebration of love!"

"Pfft, still think it's a load of tosh," he said, shaking his head. "I thought you didn't like receiving flowers anyway?"

"I don't like receiving _roses_. I love flowers, it's just that no one's ever bothered figuring out which are my favourite ones. They just assume it's roses," she shrugged, as if resigned her her fate.

Scorpius smiled and didn't add anything.

* * *

That night, Rose sat on her bed, her DADA essay in hand, proof reading it for the third time. It was late, close to midnight, and all the other girls in the dormitory had fallen asleep after their tiring dates in Hogsmeade.

Just then, a large tawny owl flew into the dormitory and landed on her bed. It carried a bouquet of pink peonies and a letter. Rose reached out to untie them and the owl gave a soft hoot before flying off.

The peonies were in full bloom and looked beautiful in their mixtures of light and dark pink. She opened the envelope and pulled out the parchment.

_Red,_

_Remember in third year I overheard you telling Terra that you thought peonies were the most beautiful flowers and I laughed at you for being strange? And then you tried to hex me (unsuccessfully as usual). Good times eh?_

_Happy Valentine's Day!_

_Scorpius_

She couldn't believe that Scorpius would remember such a small detail from one of their many fights back in third year, or that he would actually bother to send her flowers on Valentine's Day. Smiling, she set the flowers aside. And when she looked back on this day, she would only remember eating chocolates with Scorpius and his peony bouquet, and nothing about her date with Lorcan Scamander.

* * *

**A/N: I know, I'm dreadful. It's been months. Gosh, terribly sorry guys! Been real busy over the summer, but fall is here and I will try my best to be more consistent with my writing and updates! Thanks for the support! :D Leave a review!**


	16. The One With The Hospital Wing

The weather had relented by the time March rolled around and spring had finally arrived. The school was buzzing about the upcoming match between Slytherin and Ravenclaw, who were both leading in points for the Quidditch Cup, with Gryffindor trailing only slightly behind in third place.

Rose had basically avoided Lorcan since their Valentine's Day date and had fallen into a routine of spending most of her days in the library with Scorpius. The peonies were never mentioned, and nothing had changed between them. They were friends, but they still bantered and still made smart remarks about each other, though (mostly) in friendly jest.

* * *

The day of the match rolled around, and for the first time in the past few weeks, it was raining cats and dogs with no sign of relenting. Harsh winds were blowing on the field, but that didn't stop the throngs of students filling out the stands to watch the match. Rose on the other hand had refused to come down to watch.

She rarely attended Quidditch matches, having little interest in the sport. Only when Gryffindor played did she go down to support her many relatives on the team. Thus she saw 'absolutely no point in bearing the torrential rain for Slytherin or Ravenclaw'.

"Not even for Scorp?" Albus had asked.

"Not even for Malfoy," she had replied, shaking her head firmly.

The clan had given up trying to convince her and had all headed down to watch, leaving Rose in the Gryffindor common room with her homework.

* * *

Right before the game started, Scorpius scanned the crowded stands. He caught sight of the clan – the bunch of redheads – cheering at the Slytherin end of the stands, and grinned. A twang of disappointment hit him when he realised Rose wasn't among them, but he shook off the feeling and turned towards the Ravenclaw team. He caught sight of Scamander narrowing his eyes at him from the opposite side, and found himself smirking slightly, which only irked Lorcan more.

_This was gonna be an interesting match._

And the game began.

* * *

Ravenclaw was down by 50 points and Scorpius grinned as the Slytherin team scored another goal. At this rate, it seemed like it was going to be either Slytherin or Gryffindor for the Quidditch cup this year.

The rain was pouring down hard, pricking his skin like ice cold pellets. The winds howling as everyone tried to make out what the commentator was saying. The game had been going on for over an hour and the snitch was nowhere in sight. Scorpius knew he had to find it fast and end this, his teammates were freezing playing in these conditions, and he wasn't sure how much longer they could hold out. The crowd was getting restless too as it was hard to watch a match in this weather.

And then he saw her. A mass of red hair hidden under a cloak and a hood as she edged her way through the crowd of Slytherins on the bleachers to join Albus and the rest of the clan as they cheered Scorpius and his team on. He smirked.

And then out of nowhere, a bludger hit him, almost catapulting him off his broom. But he held on and manouvered himself back into balance.

Lorcan whizzed past him, gripping his Beater's cub menacingly.

"Why don't you concentrate on looking for your Snitch instead of looking at my girl Malfoy?" he growled.

"Rose ain't your girl Scamander, besides, why don't you concentrate on taking out other people instead cause Slytherin just scored goal while you were busy aiming the Bludger at me," Scorpius retorted.

Rose could see Scorpius and Lorcan exchanging words in the air, but couldn't tell if they were being hostile or not. Lorcan had not fouled any rules by sending the Bludger towards Scorpius, but Rose couldn't help but feel it wasn't for the purposes of the game.

Suddenly Ravenclaw's seeker dove towards the ground, and spotting the glint of gold himself. Scorpius chased after him, leaving Lorcan behind him. The crowd stood to their feet, gasping as the two seekers raced after the snitch.

Rose found herself amongst them, holding her breath as she watched Scorpius getting closer and closer to the ground. They should be pulling up now! Even a Quidditch idiot like her knew it was too dangerous to fly that fast, hurtling to the ground! She bit her lip and almost let out a little scream as Scorpius knocked the Ravenclaw seeker out of the way and reached out for the snitch, grabbing it and trying to pull his broom upward before tumbling off and falling 10 feet to the ground.

* * *

"- hadn't been wet and muddy it could have been much worse," said Madame Veer, the school nurse.

Almost the whole clan, along with the entire Slytherin team were surrounding Scorpius's bed in the Hospital Wing, dripping rain water and mud everywhere, much to Madame Veer's displeasure.

"Is he going to be ok?" asked Albus.

"He will be. He's suffered a slight concussion which I've given him a potion for, as well as a broken arm, which I can mend in a jiffy after he wakes up. He's going to be out for a while now, the potion he just took is a strong one, so you lot best be on your way," said Madame Veer, looking around in disgust at the mud in the Hospital Wing.

Everyone muttered their goodbyes and made their way out. Rose hovered hesitantly at Scorpius's bedside.

"You coming Rosie?" asked Terra. She and Albus looked at her expectantly.

"Uh yeah, sure," she followed them out of the Hospital Wing, glancing back at Scorpius's peaceful sleeping form before shutting the door the the Hospital Wing behind her.

* * *

Rose tossed about in her bed. Scorpius was falling. He just kept falling. And then he landed with a sickening loud thud. And all Rose could feel was fear gripping her chest as she let out a silent scream.

"No!" Rose whispered as she sat up in her bed, cold beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She looked around, the girls were still sleeping. It was just a nightmare.

Glancing at the clock beside her, it was 3am.

_Oh come on Rose, get a grip, it's just Malfoy! Besides he's fine, Madame Veer said so herself!_

She hesitated a little, battling with her inner thoughts.

"Oh sod it," she muttered to herself, tossing her covers aside and wrapping her robe around herself. Not bothering to slip on any shoes, she grabbed her wand and tip toed out of the dormitory.

After dodging Filch and a few wandering ghosts, she found herself at the entrance of the Hospital Wing. She chewed at her lip, wondering if she was crazy.

_Merlin, what is wrong with me! It's not like he's dying or something! Maybe I should go back before I get caught._

She turned and walked a few steps away but stopped again.

_Well I came this far didn't I?_

Sighing in exasperation, she turned back and pushed open the door to the Hospital Wing.

She tip toed over to Scorpius's bed and breathed a sigh of relief when she found him in the exact same position they had left him earlier on. Sinking into the chair beside his bed, she watched as his chest rose and fell with a steady rhythm, platinum blonde hair falling into his eyes. Rose unconsciously let a smile form on her lips.

"You know Red, it's kinda creepy coming here just to watch me sleep."

Rose almost fell out of the chair in surprise.

"Malfoy! You're supposed to be out cold!" she hissed, looking around to make sure she hadn't woken Madame Veer up while Scorpius tried to stifle his laughter.

"And you are supposed to be in bed. Sneaking out in the middle of the night just to pay me a visit? I'm flattered," he smirked.

"I was just –I didn't –" she tried to think of a clever response, but nothing came to her. All she wanted then was for the ground to swallow her whole.

"Help me out here will you?" Scorpius winced in pain as he tried to sit up. Rose got up and grabbed hold of his arm (the one that wasn't broken) and eased him into a sitting position.

"You feel ok?" she asked, as he rubbed his temple.

"Mmmm…" he said. "Head just hurts a little. So what happened? Did we win?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Is that all you care about? Winning? You could have died with that stunt you pulled there Malfoy!"

"Your concern for me is touching Red," he grinned as she scowled at him. "But as you can see, I'm fine and still in one piece –"

"You have a broken arm! I would hardly call that 'one piece'!"

"It's just a broken arm," he waved it off. "So?"

"Slytherin won. You caught the snitch just before you fell. The headache's probably due to the concussion. Madame Veer said you'll be fine after a good night's rest, and she'll fix the broken arm when you're awake in the morning," Rose filled him in. Scorpius nodded.

"That's great! So it's Gryffndor and Slytherin for the final match, will I be catching you at that game as well?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at her. Rose felt her cheeks flush. He had seen her at the match.

"I was just…bored…and stuff, thought I'd check out the game," she said defensively.

"You were bored, so you decided to walk out into the treacherous weather to 'check out the game'?" Scorpius said in a tone that clearly said he didn't believe her.

"Yes," she replied indignantly, determined not to let him think otherwise.

"Alright then," he grinned. He decided to give her that tonight, knowing that if he pushed further she would only leave, and for some reason he didn't want that. He didn't want her to leave.

He coughed violently and groaned as he felt his head pounding again. Rose quickly got up and poured a glass of water for him. He sipped the water with eyes closed, feeling slightly dizzy. Rose thought he looked too pale and worried that she had interupted his rest.

"Maybe I should leave," she said, getting up. Scorpius made some sort of noise, reaching out to her. Automatically, without thinking of what she was doing, she took his outstretched hand and gasped when she felt heat emanating from him. Sitting on the edge of his bed now, Rose reached out her hand and felt his forehead.

_Merlin, he's burning!_

He had his eyes closed now and Rose was pretty sure he had drifted off to semi-consciousness again. Taking the glass of water out of his hand and placing it on the side table, she attempted to shift his body back down to a sleeping position on the bed, with much difficulty as Scorpius was bigger sized than her. But she managed. Next, Rose filled a basin with cold water and grabbed one of the towels she found neatly stacked in a cupboard. Dipping it into the cool basin of water, she wringed it a few times before placing it on top of Scorpius's forehead. By now he had drifted off into peaceful slumber again.

* * *

When Scorpius awoke, he reached up and felt a damp cloth on his forehead. Removing it, he was about to sit up when he caught sight of Rose in the chair by his bed, her head resting on her arms on his bed as she slept. Scorpius found himself smiling as he reached out to stroke her hair.

"Mr Malfoy, you're awake."

Scorpius snapped his hand back and looked up. It was Madame Veer.

"Uh yeah," he replied. He glanced down at Rose again, unsure of how Madame Veer would react to that.

"No worries," she nodded towards Rose as she busied herself with mixing concoctions at his bedside. "I noticed her way earlier than this. She's a sweet one, your girlfriend, I heard her waking up periodically throughout the night to change the damp cloth on your forehead. You are very lucky indeed."

Madame Veer smiled as she handed him a potion, "I won't report her for being out of bed, so no need to trouble yourselves over that. Here, drink this, it's for your broken arm."

Scorpius didn't bother disputing Madame Veer as he gulped down the disgusting potion.

"You should be fine to leave this afternoon Mr Malfoy," she nodded, as she took the glass back from him and left his bedside.

Rose stirred and shifted at his side. She lifted her head, rubbing her sleepy eyes as she adjusted to her surroundings.

"Hey," Scorpius grinned.

"Oh hey, I must have…um…fallen asleep here last night. Didn't notice, or I would have gone back to my dorm," Rose muttered, a tinge of pink on her cheeks.

"Yeah of course," Scorpius nodded, not wanting to embarrass her or ruin the moment. "So, Madame Veer says I'm good to go this afternoon."

He casually brushed some lint off his shirt and then rifled a hand through his hair. When he turned to smile at her again, she felt an odd aching in the pit of her stomach and she smiled back feebly.

"That's great! So…catch you in the library later?" she asked.

"Sure, see you later Red," he replied.

She gave a small wave and made her way out of the Hospital Wing, leaving Scorpius sitting in his hospital bed, a goofy grin on his face as he watched her leave.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks so much for all the great reviews for the last chapter, even after my terrible long absence. Hope you guys enjoyed this one too! :D**


	17. The One Where Scorp Beats Lorcan Up

"Great game yesterday mate! How do you think the Ravenclaws feel about being pushed to third place for the Quidditch cup?" Scorpius grinned, as he gave Albus a high five.

"Thanks man!" Albus replied, as they continued down the corridor to Potions class. "For a second there I thought Hufflepuff was gonna blind side us. Thank Merlin I caught up with the snitch!"

"Hufflepuff never had anything over you guys," Scorpius assured, and Albus nodded in return. "Ain't gonna go easy on you guys for the final match though." He said, nudging Albus playfully.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Lorcan appeared and grabbed Scorpius by the collar, pushing Albus roughly out of the way and slamming Scorpius against the wall.

"Hey! What the hell Scamander!" Scorpius yelled, pushing Lorcan away from him. Lysander, who had arrived with Lorcan, tried to pull Lorcan away as well.

"Come on Lorcan," he tried, tugging at his brother's sleeve. But Lorcan just shrugged him off, nostrils flaring as he glared menacingly at Scorpius.

"You were the one who told her not to see me anymore weren't you!" Lorcan shouted, making a lunge at Scorpius while Lysander held him back. Scorpius himself was mad. How dare this guy attack him out of nowhere!

People were now stopping and staring at the commotion, whispering as they watched the scene unfold between them.

"Well so what if I were!" Scorpius challenged, standing up tall and narrowing his eyes at Lorcan.

"Who're you to tell her that! You had your chance all along and you never made your move! Now she's moved on to me and you just have to wreck it don't you Malfoy?" Lorcan stepped closer to Scorpius. He was slightly taller than Scorpius, which made staring down at him much easier. This didn't deter nor scare Scorpius though, who stood his ground and did not budge.

"You're not good enough for her Scamander. Don't think I don't know who you were doing in the broom closet while you were seeing Rose. So don't act all gallant and everything, you know you aren't worth Rose's attention!" he replied as calmly as he could with all the rage boiling inside of him. His jaw was tightened and his fists were clenched at his sides. It took all his self control to not hit Lorcan right there and then.

Lorcan turned a deep shade of red, whether or not it was from embarrassment at being exposed as a cheater or from anger at Scorpius, no one knew. Rose arrived with Terra at that moment and stared in confusion at the scenario before her.

"What's going on?" she asked. Lorcan threw her a dirty look and turned back to Scorpius.

"Well that's fine Malfoy, cause I don't need your sloppy seconds either," he sneered, stepping away from Scorpius.

"What're you talking about," he asked, frowning at Lorcan.

"You know what I mean. You've played with your food, chewed it and then spat it out. But Scamanders don't take leftovers. She must have been terrible if you never bothered to keep her around," Lorcan said.

Before anyone could react, Scorpius flung himself at Lorcan, wrestling him to the ground. And then he punched him, so hard that Lorcan started bleeding from his nose and mouth while moaning in pain.

"Don't you dare talk about her that way!" Scorpius yelled, struggling against Albus and some other sixth year guys as they pulled him off Lorcan.

Rose was shocked. She had never knew Lorcan to be this sort of guy, and she was revolted by the false pretense he had put up in front of everyone, even her. She had thought he was a nice and sweet guy, and had even felt guilty about ditching him! But most of all she was shocked that Scorpius Malfoy had stood up for her, that he had done all that because of her.

Lorcan lay on the ground groaning from the pain as McGonagall and a few other teachers appeared.

"Oh good heavens! Mr Malfoy! In my office, now!" McGonagall said, clutching her chest. "Mr Scamander! Hospital Wing!"

The crowd dispersed, murmurring about this latest occurrence as Scorpius tugged himself out of the grip of the guys holding him. Giving Lorcan one last glare, he trudged after McGonagall. He passed by Rose, who still had a look of shock upon her face. His expression softened slightly, and then he walked off.

* * *

Scorpius sat in an empty classroom, lying down on two desks he had pushed together, staring up at the grey ceiling above him. It was dinner time, and he had chosen to skip it. He knew the Great Hall would be buzzing with news about his fight with Lorcan that afternoon. Usually he didn't mind being the topic of discussion and having all eyes on him, but only when people were talking about how great he was, how smart he was, what girl he had scored latest. But not this. Not him beating up Scamander because of Rose.

Then he heard the door creak open. Sitting up, he relaxed when he realised it was Rose.

She smiled a tiny smile as she closed the door behind her. Leaning against it, she just stared at him for a moment.

"So…what, like two weeks of detention?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Try every Saturday night with Filch for two months," Scorpius grinned nonchalently, reaching back to clasp his hands behind his head.

Rose looked down and smiled weakly. She felt bad, he had gotten detention because of her. Because Lorcan had insulted her and he had stood up for her.

As if sensing that was what she was feeling, Scorpius leaned forward and said in a concerned tone, "Hey, it was worth it. I don't regret it one bit, punching that bastard."

"I know," she replied softly, nodding in return, walking over to where he was sitting and sinking herself into a chair in front of him.

They were silent again for a while.

"Is it because I didn't tell you that I knew? I didn't want to hurt you Red," Scorpius said, a frown forming on his face.

"No, I know that too, I'm not mad Malfoy," Rose shook her head, her red curls swishing around her face.

"Then what is it?" he asked, cocking his head to one side as he tried to read her expression.

"Just…thank you," she replied. She hesitated a bit before standing up and taking a step closer to him. Scorpius felt his throat go dry. He could almost count the number of lashes on her eyes at this proximity. Before he even had time to wonder what she was doing, she pecked him on the cheek.

"Good night Malfoy," she said, before she walked away.

Scorpius watched her close the door behind her, still in a wide eyed daze. And then a grin broke out on his face as he reached out to touch the spot she had kissed him, a sense of warmth spreading over him.

* * *

Scorpius sat by the lake, Transfiguration essay in his hand as he enjoyed the cool breeze of spring rifle with his hair. The collar of his white school shirt was turned up, his green and silver Slytherin tie hanging loosely around his neck.

"Hey."

He looked up to see a brunette. Fifth year. She had a nice smile.

"Hey," he replied.

"So…" she said, sitting down next to him. "I'm Bernadette."

"Um…hi Bernadette," Scorpius replied, unsure of what she wanted. "Can I help you?"

"Wow you really are different now aren't you?" she said, raising her eyebrows and flashing another grin at him.

"What do you mean?" he frowned.

"Did you really beat up Scamander because of Rose Weasley?" Bernadette asked, ignoring his question.

"Is that what the rumours are saying?" he rolled his eyes, trying to play it cool so she wouldn't dwell on this subject.

"Rumour has it you and Weasley are an item, true or false?" she asked, a twinge of hope in her voice.

Scorpius found himself grappling with his answer. He sighed as he replied, "False."

"So you don't have a date for the traditonal ball?" Bernadette said, a glint in her eye.

_So this is what it's about. She wants to ask me to the traditional ball._

"Look Bernadette, I'm really sorry, but I'm like really busy here," Scorpius said, waving his Transfiguration essay in front of her, hoping she'd get the hint.

"Oh…right, of course. I shan't bother you then," she said disappointedly, as she stood up and brushed the grass off her skirt. She turned to walk away and had taken about three steps before she turned back to face him. "You know what Scorpius? If you really like her, you should ask her to the ball. You two look cute together."

She gave a shrug and a smile before walking off.

Scorpius sat there staring out at the lake, contemplating what she had said before he felt a pair of hands cover his eyes, and he smiled, knowing who it was.

"Tell me the colour of the flowers you'd just been looking at."

"Yellow."

The hands fell away and Rose sighed as she sat beside him.

"They're white," she informed him.

"Well if I keep saying yellow I'm bound to get it right some time," Scorpius grinned at her. He was glad when she laughed at his remark.

"So who was that girl I saw here with you just now? She looks pretty. Putting the moves on her Malfoy?" she asked, smoothing her skirt down.

"Some fifth year," Scorpius mumbled. "She wanted to ask me to the traditional ball."

"Really? And what did you say?" said Rose, trying to sound as uninterested in his answer as she possibly could.

"I just told her I was real busy with my essay and she got the hint and left," he replied. He didn't notice her let out a breath of relief as he gave her his answer. Reaching out, she grabbed his essay out of his hands.

"Hey!"

"Just want to see the essay that's gonna come second in class," she grinned, thumbing through the parchment as she read what he wrote.

"Second?" Scorpius scoffed, shaking his head at her. "Cocky now are we Red?"

"Well it is obvious that I am going to get a higher mark than you Malfoy, I started my essay way earlier than you did and proof read it four times," she retorted, smiling slyly at him.

He smiled in return and didn't say anything. He watched her as she read his essay in concentration, squinting her eyes at certain parts and raising her eyebrows at others. Her red curls fell over her head, brushing his parchment as she pored over them. She had a small smile on her lips, a tiny dimple on her freckled cheek.

"_If you really like her, you should ask her to the ball. You two look cute together."_

The girl, whatever her name was he couldn't remember by now, her words kept playing in his head.

"What?" Rose asked.

He snapped out of his thoughts and noticed that Rose was staring at him now.

"Wh-what?"

"You said 'Red', so I said 'What'," Rose gave him a look. "You ok Malfoy?"

"Uh yeah I'm fine, just…thinking about stuff," he cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair.

"Ok…" she seemed unconvinced but didn't choose to pursue it.

"Hey Red?" he said, licking his lips nervously.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a date for the ball?" he asked, a sick feeling in his stomach. He had never felt as stupid as he did right now in his entire life. He, Scorpius Malfoy, had probably asked out dozens of girls in his short span of dating life, and here he was, scared as hell of what this girl was going to say. He was sure she was going to laugh at him for doing this.

"No, I don't actually," she said, a curious expression on her face as she stared at him, anticipating his next question.

"Hey, maybe we could…you know…go together. Just for laughs, or whatever," he shrugged, trying to laugh off the moment.

Rose found herself smiling. She hadn't thought of going to the ball with Scorpius. Merlin, she never even thought of going to the ball with anyone. Since the whole thing with Lorcan hadn't worked out she had assumed she was going solo, considering most of the boys in her year and the year above had either snagged up dates already or were people she would never think about going with in a million years.

She thrust his essay back at him and said, "Sure…whatever."

And then she stood up, pushing her curls out of her face as she gave him a non-committal shrug.

"Sure? As in, you'll go with me?" he asked, confused as he stood up too and followed her as she made her way back into the castle.

"Yes Malfoy, sure as in I'll go with you," she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, ok…cool, I mean, whatever," he said, falling in step beside her, hands deep in his pockets.

They crossed the archway leading back into the castle, and for the first time since he's walked past it, Scorpius Malfoy realised with deep rushing feeling that the roses by the entrance were rich, vibrant red.

* * *

**A/N: Hello all! Great reviews for the last one! I am really appreciative of all the lovely comments you guys have left me. Love you all!**


	18. The One With The Confession

"Hey Al, did you know the roses by the entrance are red?" Scorpius said.

Albus stared at him like he had gone mental or something. They were in the kitchens nicking food as usual and Albus had half a fruit tart in his mouth when Scorpius had spoken. The fruit tart was now hovering at the entrance of his mouth as he gaped at his friend.

"Did you just tell me the colour of the roses at the entrance?" he asked. He thought he'd better clarify for he was sure he'd heard wrongly. But Scorpius nodded his head.

Albus laughed and clapped his best friend on his shoulder. "Mate, you've been hanging around Rosie too much."

"Just an observation…" Scorpius muttered.

Rose Weasley had just about managed to infiltrate his mind at every single moment of the day. He could be in Potions and be thinking about how Rose couldn't possibly be brewing a better concoction than he was. He could be at Quidditch and be thinking of his first broom ride with Rose. He could be having a snack with Albus in the kitchens now and be thinking that Rose's favourite dessert was rhubarb pie. He simply couldn't put his mind to anything else, and honestly it was beginning to frustrate him.

"Sure…" Albus said, unconvinced, as he wriggled his eyebrows at Scorpius. This earned him a smack on his head, and his fruit tart fell out of his hands. "Hey!"

He picked it up from the ground anyways and popped it into his mouth.

"So," Albus said, while chomping on his fruit tart. "When were you gonna tell me you're taking Rosie to the ball?"

"Where'd you hear that from?" Scorpius asked. It had only been a couple of days, and it wasn't that he was purposely hiding it from Al, or anyone else for that matter, he just wasn't sure how people would react to it.

"Terra obviously," Albus replied, brushing the crumbs off his shirt as he looked expectantly at his best friend. "Well?"

"It was just a spur of the moment thing…" Scorpius muttered. "No big deal."

"No big deal? Mate, this is Rosie we're talking about. You guys have gone from 'I hate your guts' to 'let's be friends' and now 'let's go to the ball together'? Are you sure there isn't something else you wanna tell me?" Albus grinned.

"What're you trying to say?" Scorpius frowned. Albus rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on Scorp, do you really not know what I'm implying here?" he quipped.

"That there's something going on between me and Rose?" Scorpius raised his eyebrows. Then he gave an exasperated sigh. "Al I thought we've been through this, Rose and I are –"

"Yeah yeah I know, just friends, nothing more," Albus dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Do you honestly believe that mate?"

Scorpius just kept silent in thought, refusing to answer Albus. He grabbed the last fruit tart on the platter that Albus had been devouring and popped it into his mouth, then busied himself with chewing as he folded his arms and looked away, indicating to Albus that this was the end of the discussion.

* * *

Scorpius sat in an empty classroom during his free period. He had his wand in his hand and had been mindlessly levitating a quill while staring blankly ahead for the past half an hour.

He had spent the whole of last night tossing and turning in bed, unable to give himself a satisfactory answer to Albus's answer. Did he honestly believe deep down that what was between him and Rose was just mere friendship? He didn't know. He had no good answer for himself.

Rose Weasley infuriated him, that was what he had concluded after hours of mulling over it. She infuriated him because she was so incredibly smart. Because she was so beautiful. Because she brings up feelings within him he had never felt before. Because he didn't know if he had the same effect on her, and that scared the hell out of him.

_Merlin, I think I'm in love with her. I'm in __**love**__ with her! This is bloody mental!_

Suddenly the door slammed and it broke him out of his trance. The quill floated to the ground as he turned to see who had entered the classroom.

"Oh hey Scorp!" Lily said, walking to where he was sitting and dumping her bag on one of the desks before hopping on a table opposite him. "What're you doing here?"

Scorpius shrugged, "Just bumming around. What're you doing here?"

"Hiding from Fred and James. Those fools are trying to talk me out of my Hogsmeade date next week," she replied. Scorpius nodded and didn't say anything else.

"Girl trouble?" she asked.

Scorpius raised his eyebrows at her. "No…"

"Oh don't lie Scorp, I've been around my brothers and male cousins long enough to know when it's a girl. It's usually _always_ a girl," she said in an all-knowing way, tossing her auburn hair behind her shoulder.

Scorpius chuckled, "Alright it's a girl, but I'm hardly gonna talk about it with you!"

"Why not!" she cried out indignantly. "I think I could be pretty helpful considering I'm a girl."

"Yeah but…you're too young," he said. He thought it'd be weird talking to Lily about it. She was, afterall, Albus's sister. He'd looked upon her as a little sister himself. But they were never _that_ close.

She gave him a look, "Seriously Scorp? I think I've dated as many people as you have in my 14 years of existence."

"No wonder Fred and James are concerned," he mumbled. Lily brushed off his comment and ignored it.

"And considering the girl you're troubling over is actually my _cousin_, whom I've spent practically my whole life with, I'd say I'm pretty useful to you right now, seeing as to how you probably can't talk to Al about this. I'm the next best person you got!"

"How'd you know…" Scorpius gaped.

"I'm fourteen Scorp, I'm not stupid. Besides, the whole bloody school knows. You and Rose are probably the last people to figure it out. But congratulations! I see you've finally reached the same conclusion the rest of us have for months! You fancy Rosie!" Lily said gleefully, clapping her hands together, as if in applause for her own cleverness.

"I don't just fancy her…I think…I'm in love with her," he said.

"Whoa slow down there, did you say love?" Lily asked, her jaw dropping low.

"Yeah, I can hardly believe it myself," Scorpius admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. Now that he had said it out loud, he felt even more sure of it. It sounded right. He was in love with Rose.

"Well you gotta tell her then!" she said, grinning from ear to ear now.

"You're joking! I can't tell her I love her!" Scorpius looked at her as if she was mental.

"Look Scorpius, we all love you guys, and honestly it started out really amusing but it's become really exasperating over the last few months. It's like a really bad soap opera that never gets to its climax –"

"What's a soap –"

"Don't interupt me," she held up her hand and he shut up. "Bottom line is, this has been going on far too long and one of you needs to make the move already!"

"But…how?" he asked softly. He felt like a real shmuck right now, asking love advice from a 14 year old girl.

"Rose isn't one for fancy gimmicks. You just need honesty and sincerity," Lily replied.

"Honesty and sincerity…yeah I could do that," Scorpius nodded, as if trying to convince himself that this was going to be a piece of cake.

* * *

Scorpius sat beside Rose on the grass by the lake. It was a beautiful day, the sky was blue, the sun was out, and there was a light breeze to keep the air cool and crisp. They were leaning against a huge tree, and Rose was reading one of her Muggle novels again. Scorpius on the other hand was just idling by her the whole morning, tossing this little grey box he had brought with him up in the air repeatedly.

He had been acting strange the last couple of days, Rose had thought. He jumped whenever she turned up unexpectedly, stammered a lot when speaking to her, and she even caught him whispering with Lily in the corridor once, which she thought was really weird. They both claimed they were just discussing the latest Quidditch scores. Apparently Puddlemore United was leading in the league now.

The thought of Scorpius and Lily hooking up crossed her mind, but she brushed it off, knowing Scorpius would never take a chance on Albus's sister.

"Oi Red, we've been friends for a while haven't we?" asked Scorpius, tossing the box up again.

"I guess," she replied without looking up from her book. Scorpius nodded silently and tossed the box into the air once more. Rose snapped her book shut and looked up at him. "Would you stop that, it's really distracting. Couldn't you go off and play Quidditch with Al or something, I'm trying to read here."

He reached out and thrust the box at her, ignoring everything else she said. "Got you something."

She set her book aside and took the box from him and opened it, raising her eyebrows when she saw what was inside: a silver necklace with a letter 'S' hanging on its chain. She shut the box again.

"What is this?" she asked, giving him a quizzical look.

Scorpius just stared at her, his throat going dry.

"I don't have all day Malfoy," Rose said.

He looked down at the ground, thinking, _'Say something you dumb jerk!'_

Rose sighed and stood up, placing the box on the grass and walking away with her book.

"The roses by the entrance are red," he said it so quickly Rose wasn't even sure what he had mumbled. She stopped and turned around slowly. Scorpius was on his feet now too, clutching the box tightly in his hands, almost wringing it. He was nervous as hell.

"What?"

"The roses by the entrance are red," he repeated, a little more confidently this time. "And the tulips by the green houses are pink. The flowers near the Quidditch pitch are blue."

Rose stared at him, confused.

"What I'm trying to say is…" he scratched the back of his head, not knowing where to look. "Merlin, I don't know. I don't even – ok look. I can't stop thinking about you. When I'm in classes or hanging around with Al I just keep thinking about when I will see you again. When I'm alone I just keep hearing your bossy voice in my head going on and on about something. I guess –I'm just – what I'm trying to say is…I love you Rose Weasley."

Rose stared at him, dumbfounded. She must have been gaping for a full minute.

"I –well I – you can't just spring this on me Malfoy!" Rose shouted. Scorpius looked at her in surprise.

"What the hell Red! I just professed my undying love for you, this isn't exactly the response I was going for!" he shouted back.

"Well what did you expect Malfoy? You've been blowing hot and cold the whole time. This is exactly what we do all the time, don't you see? We argue, and then we have these stupid _moments_ where you kiss me and stuff and here you're professing your love for me, and then we just go back to arguing again. It's a vicious cycle that never ends! You don't _love_ me, I just intrigue you, that's what you told Al isn't it?" she screamed.

A couple of first years walking by actually stopped and stared at them.

"Sod off!" Scorpius snarled at them. He was pissed off, and confused. He had not expected things to turn out this way when he was planning on telling her.

The first years quickly scampered away.

"Look Red, is this what it's about? Because I told Al a few months ago that I didn't fancy you? That you just intrigue me?" he asked.

"No –well yes. I don't know!" she huffed.

"Well you know what? I think that's a load of rubbish. I think you're scared shitless cause you love me too!" Scorpius said. Rose widened her eyes at him, her cheeks turning red.

_How dare he! How dare he even say such a thing!_

"What utter bollocks!" she fumed.

"Oh yeah? Don't think I haven't noticed it. The way you keep glancing over to the Slytherin table in the Great Hall; how you took care of me in the Hospital Wing after the Quidditch match; the fact that you even bothered to come to the Slytherin match when we all know how much you don't give a rat's ass about Quidditch! How you walked out on Scamander on Valentine's day just to come back to the castle and do your Potions homework with me; how you –"

"Shut up! Just shut –"

He didn't let her finish. He pressed his mouth against hers, silencing her as he kissed her urgently, wanting to force her to realise her own feelings. She kissed him back with equal ferocity, angry at him for all that he had just said. His hand dove into her mass of red curls, the other circling her tiny waist. He licked her lips, seeking entrance, and she parted them. His tongue danced wild in her mouth. She had to hold on to him for support. He had never kissed her the way he was kissing her now, and it was making her insides feel as if they were on fire.

And then she pulled away from him, slapped him hard across the cheek, and ran as fast as she could.

Scorpius was left standing there, watching her run away from him, as he lifted a hand to touch the cheek that she had hit, rubbing the soreness at his jaw.

* * *

**A/N: Haha well a lot of you are probably going "About time!" so I hope you're glad that they're finally getting a move on with it! Stay tuned to find out what happens next ;) And thanks as always for the great reviews! Remember to leave one for this as well!**


	19. The One Where Rose Figures It Out

Albus entered the Gryffindor common room to find Rose curled up on the couch, staring into the fire as the shadow of the flames danced across her face. Albus wasn't sure if she noticed herself that she had put on Scorpius's Slytherin sweater. Her mass of red hair was pulled up into a ponytail away from her face, and she was hugging her knees as she let out a huge sigh.

She hadn't noticed Albus entering. It was late, way past curfew, and she didn't think anyone would be around at this time. She gave a little start when Albus sat down beside her, and then relaxed when she realised it was him.

"Just spent a long time sitting with Scorp while he barely said two words," Albus said, leaning back on the couch. Rose shifted a little but provided no further comment.

"You wanna tell me what happened?" asked Albus. Rose shook her head and he sighed. "Terra said you wouldn't talk to her either."

Rose felt as if she was about to burst. There were so many things she wanted to say, so many things she felt right now, but she couldn't string them into words and sentences.

"You won't talk, and Scorp won't talk. I don't even know how to help you guys," Albus said, pinching the bridge of his nose as he shut his eyes. Scorpius and Rose have had numerous fights over the years, but nothing Albus couldn't handle. He was always able to get them to make peace again, or more like, get Rose to cool off and for both of them to be civil to each other again before the next fight broke out. But this time, it was different. He knew it was something big.

Rose continued to keep silent.

"Anyway, Scorp said to pass you this," Albus handed her a box which she recognised as the box with the necklace Scorpius had tried to give her. She stared at it warily, unwilling to accept it.

"Look I don't know what it is, but Scorp just said to hand it to you, and that you can do whatever you want with it. He said you could toss it if you wanted to."

She took the box from him, stroking the soft velvet. She bit her bottom lip, frowning at the box in her hands.

"Al, how did you know when you were in love with Terra?" she asked softly. Albus's expression softened as he thought about his girlfriend.

"There wasn't really a single defining moment that I knew, it was more of a gradual thing. After a while, I just realised that I couldn't go a day without seeing or talking to her, and how I wanted so much to make her happy, and when she smiled it's like something in me lights up as well. I realised I couldn't see a future without her in it, and I didn't want to imagine a future without her either. That's how I knew…that I'm in love with Terra," he smiled, a faraway look plastered on his face.

Rose nodded, "That's really sweet Al. I'm really happy for you two."

"Rosie, I don't understand what you and Scorp are exactly, partly cause neither of you will tell me properly, but mostly because the two of you are just so damn confusing. All I know is Scorp has this stupid look on his face every time he talks about you, like he owns the world or something. And even though you would rather get trampled on by ten Hippogriffs before you admit it, you have that smile every time you talk about him too. Whatever your latest problem is, I just hope you two can work it out," Albus said.

"Thanks Al…" she murmured. He gave her a hug before walking up the stairs to the sixth year boys dormitory, leaving Rose with the box, and to her own thoughts.

* * *

Rose lay flat on her stomach on her bed, letting the cool silver chain of the necklace slip through her fingers. She thought about the last couple of days as she toyed with the piece of jewellery. Since she and Scorpius took the same NEWTs subjects, she had him in all her classes, so it had been a challenge trying to avoid him. The first time she saw him after that day was in Herbology, where she literally ducked behind a row of Mandrakes when he walked into the greenhouse. Not her finest moment she must admit.

Scorpius at least had enough tact to leave her be. He knew it wouldn't help pushing the situation. He and Albus had ended up sitting at the opposite end of the room from Terra and Rose in every class they had together, which she knew must be killing Terra and Albus because they were so used to being partners in classes now.

Rose had felt a pang of guilt as well when she noticed a red soreness on Scorpius's cheek where she had slapped him. It had faded mostly by now, but the first few days it was like an angry red patch that was flashing at her, reminding her where she had so unceremoniously landed her blow, at a poor boy whose only sin was to tell her he loved her.

Oh she knew alright. She knew that her actions and words that day were completely irrational and out of line. But it had just seemed like the only thing she could do at that moment. What else was she to do? Tell him she loved him too? She scoffed at that thought. No, it was prepostrous. Scorpius Malfoy was prepostrous for uttering those three words. They couldn't possibly…

"Rosie?"

She turned to see Lily entering her dorm.

"Hey Lils…" she greeted softly, shuffling over on her bed to make space for her cousin, who flopped down beside her.

"That the necklace he gave you?" Lily asked, nodding towards the necklace in Rose's hands.

"Uh huh," Rose said. And then she turned to look at Lily curiously. "You knew, didn't you? That was what you guys were whispering about that day when I saw you guys."

"Yeah I knew," Lily admitted. "It was a chance encounter, and he told me how he felt about you. So, I told him to tell you."

"_You_ told him to tell me? Oh Lily…" Rose sighed and shook her head. "You should have at least warned me before he sprung that whole 'I love you' thing on me."

"I told him to tell you because I knew you feel the same way about him," Lily stated simply.

"What! Lily, Malfoy and I are –" Rose tried to retort but was interjected by Lily.

"Rose, listen to me. Scorpius loves you, this is real. I know you're scared because you think he might be playing you, but he isn't! Don't let yourself lose out on something great because you fear the worst. If you don't give yourself a chance and take a dive, you'll never know if he could be the love of your life!" Lily said, squeezing Rose's arm for emphasis.

"Love of my life…" Rose repeated slowly. "We're sixteen Lily, what do we know about love?"

"Do you really think that you, Rose Weasley, and Scorpius Malfoy, at sixteen, being the brightest witch and wizard in your year, do not have the capacity and are not capable of understanding what love is?" Lily gave her a look.

"Just because we're smart doesn't mean we really know what love is Lils…" Rose argued.

Lily just shook her head, "You can keep making excuses for yourself Rosie. But I'm telling you, not everyone finds what you have with Scorpius. I suggest you grab it and run with it."

Lily climbed off Rose's bed and gave a wave to her cousin. "You think about that then, cuz."

And then she disappeared out of the dormitory.

* * *

Scorpius sat in Transfiguration alone amidst the rest of the sixth year Slytherins in the class. Albus wasn't feel well that morning and had decided to skip the lesson. Scorpius was trying hard not to turn to his left, because right across the aisle was Rose.

Scorpius didn't have to look to know she was systematically dipping her quill in her ink and penning down every word the professor was saying in her notebook. He tilted his head slightly and stole a glance. Sure enough, she was scribbling in concentration. She pushed her hair away from her eyes and tucked a few strands behind her ear. And then, as if sensing his gaze on her, those blue eyes that were glued to her paper turned and met his grey ones.

It was a moment of awkwardness when they locked eyes, yet at the same time it was as if there was a magnetic pull; neither could look away. Scorpius was the first to break off and turn toward the professor again. He gulped as he felt himself heating up around his collar.

And then a scrunched up piece of note paper landed on his desk. He glanced at Rose again, who gave him a pointed look that lasted barely a second before she went back to taking notes on what the professor was saying.

He unfolded the note and flattened it on the table. Rose's cursive handwriting was distinct, he could recognise it in a heartbeat. Scorpius's stomach did a sort of flip flop as he read it, before he folded it up again and stuffed it into his pocket.

* * *

Scorpius twirled his wand between his fingers as he sat cross legged on a desk in an empty classroom. Rose's note had simply said to meet her here, and that they needed to talk. Truth was he was terribly afraid of what she had to say. Was this the rejection that he was dreading all week long?

He heard a small cough and turned to see Rose standing at the door. He jumped off the table immediately and the two of them stood awkwardly facing each other.

A million things were running through both their heads. Neither knew who should say something first. Rose was tugging at the hem of her shirt nervously.

After what seemed like eternity, Rose broke the silence.

"Why?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean…why do you love me?" she clarified, shuffling her feet nervously. She wasn't sure if he would know how to answer her, but she needed to know. She needed to understand how Scorpius Malfoy could possibly know for sure he was in love with her.

"Because…" he trailed off. Rose wore her disappointment on her face clearly.

"It's ok," she laughed weakly. "I don't think I actually expected you to answer that."

"No," he said firmly from where he was standing. Rose stared at him, eyes wide. "Look Red, I could probably lay all that crap on you about how I can't live without you, but I'm not sure if you'd believe me cause we both know I'm not that sort of guy. But…that's precisely it, in the past six months you've turned my world upside down, such that I don't even know exactly who I am anymore. All I know now is, I don't want to spend my days without you. I want to take you out on broom rides and let you know it'll always be safe as long as you're with me. I want to sneak into the kitchens with you and just spend the whole day stuffing ourselves with rhubard pies. I want to sit by the lake with you as you read your stupid Muggle novels. I want to be beside you in the library as we both do our Potions essays. I want to be the guy who buys you your favourite flowers. I want to see you smile and roll your eyes at me when you think I'm being an arse. You're the only person who could make me want all that, and that's why I love you."

There was a moment of stunned silence after Scorpius finished his speech. Even he seemed a little shocked by all that he had just said. He stood there, taking deep breaths as he waited for her reaction.

Rose stared into Scorpius's eyes, dueling with her emotions. She had come here unsure of what exactly her answer for Scorpius would be. Over the last week she had scrutinised and analysed her relationship with Scorpius. At the end of it, she realised her mind was fighting a losing battle with her heart.

And then she said in the tiniest of voices, "I love you too."

He simply blinked at her. Rose wondered if she had said it too softly.

_Merlin he's not gonna make me repeat it is he? Damn it!_

But slowly a grin spread on Scorpius's face. "Oh thank Merlin," he said, as he ran up to her and grabbed her. Rose laughed as he lifted her off her feet, spinning her around.

"Put me down Scorpius!"

He did, but continued to hold her in his arms, beaming widely down at her.

"I love the way you say my name," he whispered, leaning down towards her such that she could feel his warm breath on her.

"Scorpius…" she smiled, tip toeing to plant a kiss on his lips.

"Scorpius…" she murmured, in between kisses.

He groaned, tightening his grip around her waist, "You make me crazy Red."

* * *

**A/N: And there you go, FINALLY! I know, what kind of horrible author am I, using 19 chapters to get her characters together haha! And, I feel I should probably give you guys some fair warning. The next chapter will be the last. I know, I know, Rose and Scorpius only just got together! But I hope you understand I feel this is the best way to end this saga. So, looking forward to the reviews, and hope you guys are looking forward to that final chapter!**


	20. The One With The Traditional Ball

Scorpius and Rose were sitting by the lake, him reading through his DADA essay, an arm hooked around her neck and splayed across her shoulders as she lay comfortably in his chest, thumbing through her Muggle novel.

"What's that last bit the Professor said about werewolves?" Scorpius asked, scanning the last paragraph of his essay.

"Weren't you paying attention?" Rose said absentmindedly, still poring through her novel.

"No, I was too busy staring at you in class," Scorpius smirked. She rolled her eyes.

They'd been going out almost a month now, and it still seemed so unreal to her. It felt weird to even say out loud that Scorpius was her _boyfriend_. And everyone's reaction when they found out was honestly quite amusing to them. It was like a mixture of 'I can't believe Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy are seriously going out', and 'Finally, Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy are going out'. And also the occasional 'bitch you stole my man' reactions from a few of the girls who had had past transgressions with Scorpius.

"Well that's too bad cause I'm not telling you," she replied.

"You're only not telling me because you want a higher grade than me for this essay Red," he chuckled.

"That's not true! I could get a higher grade even if I told you everything you need to know!" she retorted, frowning up at him.

"So this completely one sided competition you have going on with me since first year isn't going to stop now that we're dating?" Scorpius teased, brushing back her curls and landing a kiss on her forehead.

"Oh please, it's not much of a competition when I win most of the time," Rose snorted.

"You seem to have forgotten I beat you in that Charms test a week ago love," he smirked. Rose glared at him.

"If not for the fact that you guys are sitting in this position and punctuating your sentences with 'love', I'd say things haven't changed a bit with you two," Albus said, as he and Terra walked hand in hand over to Rose and Scorpius and sat down.

"Hey man, how was Quidditch practice?" Scorpius asked, grinning at his best mate.

"Brutal. James got the team practising like crazy for this final match. You on the other hand don't seem to be scheduling any practices for your team. That confident? I should warn you, Gryffindor is gonna be killer in this final one," said Albus.

"We're ready," Scorpius replied with a wave of his hand, as if there was nothing to worry about. "So will I be catching you at that game, Red?"

"I guess I have to, considering it's the final one and Gryffindor's playing," Rose sighed reluctantly."

"So are you gonna be supporting Gryffindor or Slytherin?" Terra questioned.

"Oh Gryffindor definitely!" Rose replied quickly without pondering.

"What! You're not even gonna support your own boyfriend?" Scorpius looked flabbergasted.

"Nope," Rose said cheerily as Albus and Terra laughed. Scorpius clutched his heart dramatically and pouted slightly.

"Alright you two lovebirds, we gotta go, but we'll catch you guys at dinner," Albus said as he stood up, offering a hand to Terra to help her up.

"Yeah, and Rose don't forget, shopping at Hogsmeade this weekend!" Terra winked before setting off with Albus.

"You're hanging out with Terra this weekend?" Scorpius asked. "I thought this was gonna be our first Hogsmeade date! And it is the last Hogsmeade weekend before the exams…"

"Oh I'm sorry Scorp," Rose said, grabbing his hand as she sensed the disappointment in his voice. "But I promised Terra ages ago that we'd shop for our dresses for the ball together this weekend."

Scorpius scowled unhappily in return.

"Oh come on," she rolled her eyes and smiled. "Don't be such a kid about it. You can hang out with Al!"

"Fine, but you better make it up to me," he said, squeezing her hand.

"How?"

"I can think of a few ways," he smirked, leaning in to brush his lips against hers. He was glad when she smiled and deepened the kiss, her hand lightly placed on his neck.

And then suddenly she broke away, patting him on the knee before standing up.

"Come on now, we should head to the library, exams are coming up and I'm barely done with my revision," Rose said, looking down expectantly at him.

He groaned before following suit and standing up, "You're a pain in the arse sometimes Rose Weasley."

She smiled despite that and allowed him to take her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers as they headed back into the castle together.

* * *

Scorpius waited at the foot of the staircase leading into the Great Hall. It was almost 7.20, and Rose was supposed to meet him at 7.30. He'd come early. Leaning casually against the banister, he straightened his red tie. A group of fifth years that walked by him giggled and smiled at him. He smiled back lazily, barely even looking at them. The fact that it was common knowledge he was dating Rose now didn't stop the onslaught of admiration from girls, who now painted a picture of him rather like a romantic than the out-of-reach playboy he was back then. He wasn't sure which he preferred really.

He put one hand into his pocket and ran the other one through his blonde hair.

"Hey mate! Rosie's not down yet huh?"

He turned around to see Albus with Terra on his arm. They had colour coordinated, Albus wearing a green tie the same shade of green as Terra's dress.

"Yeah, we agreed on 7.30, I'm just early," he replied.

"Well it's gonna be worth the wait Scorp, Rose looked amazing in her dress when I left. She's just putting on some finishing touches to look her best for you," Terra winked. Scorpius smiled back at her. He knew she was right, that Rose would look amazing. But he just wasn't prepared for the angel he thought had descended upon Hogwarts.

There were audible gasps as boys and girls alike turned to stare at the girl coming down the staircase. Rose was clad in a champagne one shoulder dress that flowed elegantly to the ground, and her usual mass of red curls had been swept up into an untidy yet stylish bun, a few strands falling to frame her face. She had on just the lightest touch of make up, and the only accessory she was wearing was a necklace with a letter '_S_' hanging on it.

She walked towards Scorpius, taking his outstretched hand and letting him kiss her softly on the cheek.

"You're beautiful," he whispered in her ear, making her blush and smile back at him.

"Thank you," Rose said, reaching out to adjust his tie for him. "You look pretty dashing yourself."

"Well, if you two are done making googly eyes at each other, Terra and I would like to head into the party now. We heard that it just started and it's already in full swing!" said Albus.

The four of them headed into the Great Hall together, and Albus was right. The traditional ball was in full swing, with couples dancing on the dancefloor to the up-tempo beats of the wizarding band Merlin's Jazz. The decorations looked amazing, with banners of all the different house colours charmed to weave amongst each other in lovely patterns across the enchanted sky. The long house tables were gone and instead replaced with round ones seating ten at each, ivory satin tablecloths lining each one. And the food displayed buffet style at the end of the Great Hall. Also, it seemed as if someone (probably Fred and James) had already managed to spike the punch bowl with Firewhisky.

"Oh it looks lovely!" Rose gasped, as she took in the sight before her.

"Yeah it damn well should, if you've forgotten, we prefects spent the whole day yesterday arranging all these," Scorpius grumbled. Rose gave him a look but did not bother to retort. They had indeed spent a great deal of time the day before setting up this ball, but to her it was worth every minute seeing how wonderful everything looked now.

"So you wanna dance?" Scorpius asked, grinning at her. She raised her eyebrows in return.

"Scorpius Malfoy can dance?" she laughed.

"Care to find out?" he smirked, taking her hand and leading her onto the dance floor.

And he couldn't dance, not to save his life, but he entertained Rose anyways, jumping and grooving to the music as she laughed by his side. Normally, he wouldn't have done anything as crazy as that for anyone. Malfoys simply did not throw away their pride and dignity and made fools of themselves on the dancefloor like he was doing now. But he'd do it for Rose. Anything to see her smile and laugh.

Then a slow song came on, and the crowd on the dancefloor dispersed, leaving only the couples. Rose smiled as Scorpius's arm circled her waist, his other hand grabbing hold of hers. She let her own hand rest on his shoulder as they slowly swayed to the music.

"You've got two left feet just now, but this you can do?" Rose laughed as Scorpius guided her fluidly on the dancefloor.

"Don't laugh, but Mother taught me to waltz when I was younger. Slow dancing is a piece of cake compared to that," Scorpius admitted.

Rose just nodded and leaned in closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder as her arms circled his neck. He held her in his arms, his thumb lightly stroking her lower back. Scorpius thought back to when they had first started going out, how the two of them had been so confused as to how to go about things. Afterall, they were each other's first serious relationship, you could hardly blame them.

* * *

"_So…what happens now?" Scorpius asked, still holding Rose in his arms after she had just told him she loved him too, which led to a pretty mind blowing make out session._

"_Um…I don't know. I guess we're officially seeing each other now? I mean, if that's what you want," Rose blushed. She realised Scorpius hadn't actually asked her out, he had only told her he loved her. But it was only logical to assume he wanted a relationship with her, wasn't it?_

"_Of course that's what I want Red," he said, sensing the uncertainty in her voice. "Don't you think for one second I'm ever gonna let you go back to the likes of Scamander after this." _

_He tightened his grip around her waist possessively as Rose smiled and shook her head._

"_Well there is that whole thing about how the whole school thinks we hate each other. What's everyone gonna think?" Rose frowned, lines etched into her forehead as she thought about all the possible road blocks in her relationship with Scorpius. "How're we going to tell everyone? Especially the clan. Oh Merlin," her eyes widened. "How're we going to tell our __**parents**__!"_

_She disentangled herself from Scorpius's embrace and began pacing the room._

"_This is horrible, we haven't thought things through at all. My Dad is going to kill me! No," she paused and whipped around to look at Scorpius, who was just standing there nonchalently, watching her in amusement as she continued to fluster. "Dad is going to kill __**you**__! Oh no, he's never gonna be able to accept that I'm dating a Malfoy! Oh poor Daddy, he's going to be so disappointed! No amount of Outstanding NEWTs is going to make up for the fact that I'm dating a Malfoy!"_

_Scorpius chuckled as she ranted, earning him a glare from Rose. She placed her hands on her hips and said, "You're not helping Malfoy. Your family isn't going to be too thrilled either that you're dating a Weasley. A __**half-blood**__ Weasley."_

"_Oh so now it's Malfoy again, is it?" he smirked, not finding the situation as grave as she did. But he walked over to her and took both her hands in his, his expression sombreing only slightly as he said, "Look Red, I know the road ahead isn't gonna be easy. Our families have…issues with one another, I get it. But I don't care what difficulties we will face in the future, as long as we're facing them together."_

"_Everything's going to be ok," he murmured, pressing his forehead to hers._

"_How do you know?" she whispered back, closing her eyes as she allowed him to soothe her._

"_Because we've already gotten past our biggest obstacle Red, and that's even admitting that we love each other. Don't you see how trivial everything else is in comparison?" Scorpius replied._

_Rose sighed, reaching up to stroke his cheek, "You're right. Whatever comes our way, we'll deal with it together."_

* * *

"Scorp…"

"Hmmm?"

"What's going to happen to us over the summer?" she asked, her voice a little shaky.

"What do you mean?" he asked, pulling back slightly so he could see her face.

Rose's eyes flickered downwards.

"I mean, we're gonna be apart for almost three months, and Al always tells me about how you're off with some heiress on your father's business trips during the summer. Plus Lily always shows me the magazine articles about you and some summer fling. Did you know they write about you?" she laughed nervously to mask the worry in her voice.

Scorpius was surprised. Rose Weasley, as far as he knew, was the most fearless person he had ever met. The only other time he saw the fear he was seeing in her eyes now, was when he had first told her he loved her. And here she was, genuinely afraid that he was going to go back to his old habits over the summer and forget all about her!

He brushed a strand of hair away from her face and looked into her bright blue eyes as he told her firmly, "Rose, you are the most beautiful girl I've ever met, no heiress or whatnot could ever compare to you. I love you with all my heart, and I will always love you. And no matter how much you try to pry me away from you, I am never letting you go Red. I'm afraid you're stuck with me love."

Rose smiled and tip toed to lightly plant a kiss on his lips.

"Thank you, for everything this year," she whispered.

Scorpius grinned at her, brushing his lips against her forehead.

"So…remember when you said you'd pick Teddy Lupin over me, that's not still true is it?" he chuckled.

"He is getting married to my cousin…and I told you that you couldn't ever bring up Teddy again!" Rose was turning slighly red now.

"So if he wasn't you'd still pick him over me?" Scorpius asked, ignoring the second half of her statement.

Rose laughed and shook her head, "I'll always pick you Scorpius."

"Always?"

"Always."

* * *

**A/N: And that's that! Firstly, a massive big thanks to all of you who have been reading my story since the beginning, tolerating all my late updates and all, I really appreciate it!**

**I know it took me terribly long to get these two together, and then to end the story right after they do! But that's how I always planned for it to be. I wanted to write a story about how two really stubborn characters struggle with the transition from being enemies to friends and finally lovers, the details about the emotional battle and denial.**

**Anyway, for those of you who suggested writing a sequel, yes I am toiling with the idea! I had a few scraps of paragraphs written here and there while I was penning each chapter of this story for the future Rose and Scorpius. I have a rough idea of what I would like the sequel to be like, and it is likely I will be writing one about Rose and Scorpius's journey in their relationship after Hogwarts. So while I get my thoughts sorted out and form a good enough plotline to satisfy myself, maybe you guys could put me on your author alert list so if I do post a sequel you'll be sure to catch it!**

**Until then, cheers!**

**xx**


	21. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**Hi all! Just wanted to say that the sequel is up! It's titled 'Always', do check it out! Thanks!**


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